Finding A Purpose
by ShadowDragonGX
Summary: some Gundam crossover.a man from our world is transported to the Vandread universe and must find his purpose for being there. once there, he receives a little gift, a gundam.OC is the M.Character, OCxMeia, BarnettexOC.
1. I’M NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Vandread or the Gundam series.

**A/N: **This first chapter will be from my OC's point of view and then the rest will be from a third person's point of view.

I'M NOT IN KANSAS IN ANYMORE

Today was my summer break and I was spending it playing games, hanging out with my friends, and you every day normal stuff, and that was the problem," 'sigh' everything these days is so boring nowadays. Everything is just one same thing after another. I just wish that there was some action once in awhile, like something like off of Vandread," I said as I lay on a hill of grass, watching the clouds go by. It was so relaxing, I just felt the need to drift off and take a bit of a nap.

Oh, did I forget to mention who I am, well the name is Taiho, Taiho Lobo. I'm half Japanese and half Mexican, currently living in the middle of the good ol' U.S. and just got done with college. I studied computers, their systems, and basically you everyday mechanics on anything that can move. Well back to what I was saying.

Usually I would dream about the wildest things, like taking down zombies one at a time with a big as bazooka while doing a tap dance. (That one made me shudder, I was creeped out) But this time was different, this one was as if I was surrounded by aqua green water and for some reason, I was breathing still. It felt like something right out of my favorite anime, Vandread.

"What the hell?" I said as I looked around, I then start to see images pop up of the episodes of Vandread,' okay, now I know I'm watching that show too much. Maybe I should watch something like…Gundam Seed or maybe a combination of them,' I then start to think of a Gundam with combination parts, thinking that this little dream would change a little.

"Hmm, let's see," I start to think what my imaginary gundam should look like," maybe the body frame and capabilities of the Destiny Gundam, those wings look hella cool on it and its basic equipment to. But without that pesky Phase Shift Armor, just the armor the Wing Zero has," then I started with the combinations," probably have mounted shoulder gatling guns like Wing Zero too, then the hands of Burning Gundam for its Burning Fingers while it still holds the beam shield. And maybe the cockpit system of it as well, that will make it easier than learning the controls, just not with the jumpsuit. I wouldn't be able to handle the suit riding up my crotch and ass, it'd be too troublesome, hehe, like a certain Nara," as I said that, I could sworn I heard someone sneezed and say something about people being troublesome talking behind his back," anything else then that, I can hardly think of anything else at the moment."

And is if on cue, the gundam of my imaginations appears in front of me, but the aqua green scenery is still around. A voice then speaks out of nowhere," this is the sword you have created and it will guide you to the ones who will need you and your sword most. You have only till tonight to be ready for the journey ahead," and then my best friend, cutting off the weird dream all of a sudden, woke me up.

"Hey, come on man. Wake your lazy ass up," Marcus said as he kicked me in my side, just for the fun of it. He was one of the few people who would tolerate me; he was black, wore black and red all the time for some reason and was quite lean. He would be though considering we do 'bodies' all the time, just for the fun of it and to train each other in our own style of combat. (When I say 'bodies', I mean basically punching the shit out of each other and keep on hitting till one of us is tired, or backs off from the game)

"Dammit man, you really didn't need to do that," what surprised when I saw him, was that he was wearing white and blue," what the occasion man, you never wear those colors."

"None of you damn business," he said in a cocky tone. That pissed me off at that moment.

"What the hells your problem? I just asked a simple question, dumbass," I then get up and step up to his face.

"And what you gonna do, huh? Not a damn thing," he said in an annoyed voice as he hardens his glare at me.

"Ass," I said to him.

"Bitch," he replied back.

"Fucker."

"Dick sucker."

"GAY ASS HOMO."

"YOU FUCKING PRICK WITH A DICK STICKING OUT YOUR ASS."

"YOU MOTHER FUCKING, BITCH ASS, COCK SUCKING, ASS LICKER."

"YOU OL' JIMINY THE CRICKET SUIT WEARING ASS MOTHER FUCKER."

After that last comment, he did the only thing he could do at the moment…laugh ass off," ah shit man, I haven't heard that one since we watched 'How High'."

"Yea, I know, don't you just love the good ones," I said with a happy smirk on my face.

"Shit, hell ya. But time to be serious," he then looked at me straight in the eye and I could tell he didn't want to tell me, considering the sad look in them. He didn't speak for a moment, but his answer shocked me when he said it," I'm, uh, I'm moving to Texas and I won't be coming back."

Taking back by that, I try to think of a way to at least keep up our friendship up," well, we could always email each other and then there's the online games we got, so it won't be like we will forget each other," though I tried, my voice didn't sound that convinced. We both knew trying to keep up our friendship from a long distance would fail. So I did the next best thing," who am I kidding? Well, the only thing I can say to you man is good luck out there and don't forget me," he smirks and we do our little hand shake," always know that I'm always here man and that I'll always be your homie."

"That's the only thing I can ask for," he then turns to go home and pack," well I gotta go man, I'll maybe see you when you come to Texas," he then walks off without looking back.

"COUNT IT MAN, WHEN I'M THERE NEXT TIME I'LL LOOK YOU UP," I yelled out to him. Now the days just got more boring and depressing even. I was going to miss him, but it was his choice to move. So with that I walk off home, hoping that my video games will get my mind off this matter.

"I'M HOME," I call out so that my mother knows I'm in. We lived by ourselves, so it was pretty empty in a house meant for eight people. I didn't hear her say that she too was in, so I assumed she was still at work. I then quickly take a hot shower to relieve myself further of any negative thoughts. When I was done, I combed my hair and spiked the front of it; I then put on a pair of black addida with white stripes, black Dickies pants, and a white wife-beater.

When I was done with that, I went to my room and started up the ps2 to play some good games. I noticed that it was really cold in my room,' maybe I should turn up the heater…naw, I'm too lazy to do it now,' so I do the next best thing and put on a zip-up sweater that had the Dickies logo in the middle.

I played for a few hours, not noticing that a storm was brewing outside, a tornado storm that is. I didn't know it was coming straight for my house considering I was concentrated on the game more then to my surroundings. When it got close enough for me to feel I started to panic," what the fuck?!" I then look out my window and see the tornado, on its way to me," OH FUCK, I GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE," but it was too late, as the tornado tore the side of the house and its winds taking hold of me. As I started to spin in the tornado, I noticed it was starting to glow, but I paid it no attention while thinking just one thing on my mind,' it's been a good life, I guess," and so I resign myself to my fate.

'It feels so weird here. For some reason, I feel my back moving and it feels like something is pushing it,' I then started to open my eyes, ready to see heaven's gates or Hell's entrance, but I didn't expect to see just a brown ceiling,' hm? What the hell? Shouldn't I be dead,' I then jump to my feet and start to feel around myself, making sure I was indeed alive. To my pleasure I was, I then look in my initial surroundings to see if there was anyone around to so that I can ask where I am. When I hear I grunt, I look down and see that I'm standing on someone," Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to…" I then look to see who I was standing on, and it truly shocked me. It was Hibiki Tokai, the dude who was an action Tenchi. (In my eyes, Hibiki is like Tenchi, only he actually takes action, then just stands around and waits for the danger to come to him)

"What the hell?" he dusts himself off and then shoots me a death glare towards me, which really doesn't affect me," who the hell are you and what are you doing here?"

"You know, I could ask you the same thing," my mind was still going out of whack at this moment,' what in the name of god is happening? This feels too real to be just some dream,' then I think of all the upcoming battle that were in the series,' or nightmare for that matter now. I don't know if I should be happy or afraid.'

He paled a bit when I asked the question, but like I know him, he gets back his cocky attitude," heh, none of you damn business?"

That comment made me flinch, as I realized that my family and my friends are all back in some other dimension, or worse, dead considering the timeline here. After that last thought, it really made me depressed. But right now, I have to focus on the here and now," if you say so man, but don't you think we should get out of here before…" once again I was cut off as the wall in behind us lifts up and makes the mechas turn to it, as if in a sound off," we get caught."

"Hey, what are third classes doing here," one of the soldiers yelled out. All of a sudden, guards were coming in to detain us.

But I wasn't going to go down without much of a fight. So as one was foolishly trying to just grab, I ducked down and punch him right in the gut, I then proceed to left uppercut right to his jaw. Seeing other coming up behind me, I take the temporarily lifted soldier by the legs and use a quick bit of strength and toss him to the two incoming soldiers. I then rushed over and jump up to stomp my feet on the two soldiers faces, thus knocking them out. Two more guards came in but were trying to close in on me by coming in from opposite sides. Like I would be cornered like that, I fought better brawls with my best bud back home. When they got close enough, I jumped high enough over their heads while grabbing onto their heads and knocked them right into each other. I scoffed at their fighting abilities; these guys were military made primarily of men? Some real pussies must've trained the future soldiers.

I saw that Hibiki wasn't going as good as me, so I rushed over to him, only to be stopped by one of the guards holding a gun," halt, if you insist on resisting us third class, we will not hesitate to kill you or your friend there," as he said that, he then cocked the gun, readying it to fire.

I don't speak, but merely nod and let them proceed to put restraints on me. Moments later, me and Hibiki are thrown in a storage room used as a cell," bastards, don't just throw us in some storage room, at least put us in a decent prison," the short stuff said in an angered voice, though I really wasn't complaining as I know what is to happen next.

That what troubled me, should I go along and just let it flow, or should I give out hints of the future and avoid some sticky situation. It did not sit well with me on having to go through the whole 'Barnette on a no trusting man-hunt', that was the one thing I definitely wanted to avoid. But I was brought out of my thoughts, as Hibiki was tapping my shoulder to get my attention.

"Hey, what the hell is wrong with you? You look like you were deep in thought," he said as he raised an eyebrow. I only assumed it wasn't only my attitude, but my clothing too that made me suspicious.

"Nothing's the matter, and yes I was thinking of something. But enough of that," I then stuck out my hand to him," Names Taiho, Taiho Lobo."

He looked at me and my hand for a sec, but quickly took it with a big smirk on his face," And my names Hibiki Tokai, Hibiki the man," he said proudly to himself.

I then look at our situation," 'sigh' looks like we won't be getting out of here anytime soon," I notice the little robot in front of our would be cell. I notice it to be Pyoro still in his robotic personality.

"Why do things always get messed up in my life," he then notice the robot too and a smirk grows on his face," uh, hey, partner," the robot then gives him his attention," why don't you be a pal and let us out of here? We were both born in a factory, so that means we're kinda like brothers, huh? Right?"

"No, we are composed of completely different materials. The term 'brother' is inappropriate," the little white robot replied back to him in a robotic voice. All the while, Hibiki was trying to bribe it while it was talking," denied, the subject is making an improper request. Instigation of escape and attempted bribery are crimes, therefore…"

"Therefore?" Hibiki asked, and so I then take one big step back from the short stuff.

"Punishment," as the robot said that, it immediately gives him a big charge of electricity.

After frying for a second, the navy haired boy glared right at the robot," What the hell do you think doing? Who do you think I am?" he yelled out angrily.

"Starting identity scan of the observed," it then went on about information already known, until a tremor occurred and had it hit the robot crash right into the laser grid.

"So, it has begun," I said under my breath, trying to get myself psyched up for anything unexpected to happen.

"What? What's going on now?" Hibiki asked, clearly confused by the situation. Shortly after he said that, an alarm went off with an announcement for the soldiers to go into battle.

After getting out of his confusion, Hibiki goes into mechanic mode and uses the robot circuitry to disengage the laser grid holding us captive," never underestimate a mechanics know how," he said, as if patting himself on the back for doing a good job.

"Yea, yea, just don't get cocky. I think that head of yours is big enough as it is," I then walk out and notice him glaring at me again," 'sigh' you really don't know when to take a jokes, do you Hibiki? Anyways, shouldn't our first priority to be getting out of here, NOW."

Stopping the little glare, he nods and we start to take off, but the short guy looks back at the robot. Not even asking, I go and pick up the little robot. He gives me a confused look, but I just nodded my head towards the door, gesturing for us to leave. He nods again and we're finally off.

We are then running down damaged halls, it looked like something out of a sci-fi scary movie," what the hells going on with this place?" he asked clearly on edge.

"Well I don't know, but one thing is for sure. We need to get out of here," I said with a bit of a lie, because I did know what was going to happen. (Duh)

As we continue running to the hangar for the vanguards, we come across a room with the paxis (don't know if that is spelled right). As soon as we make it to the middle of the bridge, an explosion occurs and sends me right into the core.

Knowledge of a whole lot of things was pouring into my mind, too fast for me to even comprehend. I didn't know how long it took me to wake from this barrage of knowledge, but I soon found myself way up near the ceiling, while standing on a beam near the paxis.

I then hear yelling down below and low and behold, it was Meia and Jura on a catwalk yelling at Dita for what she is doing.

"HEY HIBIKI," I yell out, not caring that the three see me, we needed to get to the vanguards now for protection of the nukes they're going to fire at us. The navy haired boy then looks up to see me with a grateful look in his face. I then got an idea, though as crazy as it sounded, I felt I could do it," HOLD ON FOR A SECOND THERE, I'LL JUMP DOWN TO YOU," yup, I was definitely going to do it. Don't ask my why, because I don't even know why I'm doing it.

I then leaped off and start to jump from beam to beam, on my way down to the third class citizen. When I got on the catwalk for a second, I saw the two women had shocked looks on their faces and I wouldn't blame them either; I was jumping around like a ninja from Naruto for some reason.

"Come on, we need to get to those vanguards now," he nods and we take off to the hangar of the vanguards, not even caring that the girls were there. I knew that they would be okay after this.

We then arrive in room where some vanguards were knocked out from the hangar," well, well, aren't we lucky."

"Now, where are you," he looks at the fallen vanguards individually," ah, there you are partner," he then runs to one with a mark on it lower part,

"Alright man, let's hope for the best," I then get into the seat of the cockpit and flip a switch to closed the hatch, but before it did, I yelled out," JUST DON'T DIE ON ME, OKAY," I take a quick look in his direction and see him giving me a thumbs up. Once set into the cockpit, I start to look over the controls. After looking at them all, I had one thing to say," umm, how do I start this?"

I knew I couldn't move it, so I waited for a bit for the paxis to react and save us. Though when it happened, I didn't think it would take me too, again,' does this thing like people dropping in like this,' I wondered, remembering that a lot of times Hibiki was just thrown in, as were the others every single time. As we fall, we see a giant mecha, but unlike in the series, I could vaguely make out another one. The two mechas then fire right at the nukes and we are transported to another part of the universe.

All the while, I started to have cryptic visions of the future. The visions hardly made any sense to me, as they were telling me some strange things. After that, I awoke near my new bud Hibiki, not remembering what the visions were telling me (don't worry, I'll have him remember when he sleeps next time, in the next chapter)," yo Hibiki, wake up man," after much shaking of the boy, he still didn't get up," 'sigh' you leave me no choice," I then picked him up and set him up in a certain position. I wanted to try something and see if it really had that sort of affect," here goes, Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu: 1000 Years of Death," I then ram my finger right up his ass and send him flying straight into the wall, thus knocking him out," uuhh, well, I at least know that works." (That was just to be a little funny, not going to be doing Naruto moves anymore on here)

I then look at the surrounding area," heh, the paxis sure does work fast," I then thought back for a bit,' you know, I have a feeling that the paxis itself brought me here, but for what reason? The original storyline of the series had gone good, so what could my presence be needed here for?' I thought to myself. I then hear footsteps and quickly picked up Hibiki, so that we could hide.

I look over from our hiding spot and see that it's Meia scouting the area. So I decide to make my presence known to the dread team leader. So I quietly get behind her and tap her on the shoulder, which almost made me receive a punch to the face, but I dodge it with a bit a lean of my head," yo, how's it hangin'?" I asked with a happy tone. She got on guard in front of, but I raise my hand in defeat," whoa, hold on, I don't want to fight. I just wanted to surrender myself peacefully," she nodded, but could tell she was still on guard," just so you know, my bud is over there on the floor knocked out. You mind if I get him, so that you can have both of us," she hesitated for a bit, but nodded and had her ring beam aimed at me as I went to get the short guy. I soon came out and dropped him on the floor.

Soon after that, a ship came in from the outside and landed on near us. I just sat next to my bud, waiting for them to come," this is amazing," I hear old lady Magno say.

"Sorry about his captain. You had to come all the way up here," the blue haired woman said in a concerned voice.

"There's no need to apologize, I simply just wanted to this with my eye," she then looks in our direction," and who might these two males be?"

"The one wearing orange, with navy hair was the one Dita was chasing around. But the one in black, I don't know who he is," Meia explained to her captained as the old lady takes one look at Hibiki.

"It's been awhile since I last seen a man, were their face always this funny looking," she said with a questionable voice.

"'Cough' 'cough' I'm right here you know," I said with a bit of annoyance.

"You be silent, prisoner" Meia commanded to me while aiming that beam ray at me.

"Heh, whatever," I then turn my attention the captain," well, I suggest we get to somewhere we can talk, so we going to go or not?"

I saw that had a questioned look her face, most likely wondering why I was acting so casual amongst women, and that I seemed too much at ease, but I may just be reading into her face too much," not before we know what's going on with this ship and ours, so you two will be detained until we can get comfortable."

They bring me and Hibiki to the same storage room that we were held prisoner, but Hibiki was still knocked out, so I had to carry him all the way to the would be cell. Duero Mcfile was there as well, but I just gave him a nod, which he returned. I then sat down opposite of him. I could tell he was examining, trying to figure out who I was.

"My I ask as to whom you are, please?" the doctor acting as politely as he could.

"Only if you give me yours," I had to say that in order him to not get suspicious if blurted out his name later.

"Duero Mcfile," he said simply.

"Taiho Lobo," I replied back in the same way.

"So, are you an elite? I haven't seen you around here," he asked, I had kinda expected that question though.

"Naw and I'm not a third class, or whatever you guys like to discriminate people with," I said with a bit of annoyance.

"How do you perceive the rank being discriminative, I don't see what you mean?" the doctor was still trying to figure out who I am through all the questions.

"Because those who are ranked on your planet are discriminated or held with respect, and I find that to be bull," he raised an eyebrow at my explanation," like how you label third classes, they are treated like trash when one of them, or even many of them may have the potential to be something. While the ones of great rank or elite, are held with respect when they haven't done a speck of work that the third classes have, with the exception of the pilots and soldiers," with that done, I waited for his next question.

"About that, how did you learn how to fight? I was aware that no one fights like that with the style of combat you used. It was more, how do put this…brutal than the military combat we are used to," the doctor said as he still had that poker face on.

I shrugged a bit at his question," let's just say that my best bud back home and I have trained each other in combat, and that is all I'm going to say. I need rest," I then close my eyes for a bit to get a nap.

A few moments only pass until Hibiki wakes up with sweat all over his forehead, but as he got up, he hit his forehead on the shelf just above him. He most was likely going through the visions of the paxis is providing him before that happened," oh man…well it looks like we're stuck behind bars again, huh?"

"So, you're awake?" I acted to be asleep and listened to their conversation at that time.

"Whose there?" I could tell Hibiki already knew I was here, so it was only natural for him to see who else was here.

"My name is Duero Mcfile. Do you have name as well, Mr. third class citizen," I get a little angry when he said that, apparently the little speech I made didn't get through that skull.

"Don't you make fun of me, my name is Hibiki Tokai and not just another third class citizen," he said in ticked of voice. I could barely hold a chuckle; he was way too brash for his own good.

"Aside from our friend here, you were the one that also interrupted, right? How did you manage to sneak in anyway?" I could tell he had humor in his voice. From what I could tell from what I watched from the anime, this third class citizen impressed him.

"I'm sure being asked a lot of questions a lot today, anyway…" but he was cut off by the little robot that was in the room, I guess one of the women found him and threw him in with us for no apparent reason.

"Beep…beep…hm?" then all of a sudden, it popped out with arms and legs of its own," Pyoro," he then looked around confusedly," hmm, where am I? Who am I?" The little robot asked in no one particular with a normal voice.

"You've changed a bit haven't you?" Hibiki asked in a deadpanned voice," you want me to fix you or something?"

"Hey, don't make fun of me. I am not broken," the little robot yelled at him. That was when I had enough of acting and faked a yawn.

"Morning Hibiki, Duero," I waved at them with a smile and happy voice.

They were about to say something to until BC came into view and scared the pants off Hibiki," w-women! What do you plan to do to me? What are we doing here?"

"Try to calm down, this is the safest place for you right now," the platinum haired 'woman' said, I still couldn't believe that she was a he. I almost puked when I heard that, but I bet it made Bart feel worse than anyone else when he found out.

"Sure you say that, but you wanna eat my guts," he bluntly said to her.

"Eat your guts?" she then got a confused look on her face and the girls behind could hardly hold in their laughter, which I gave a bit of a chuckle as well. When I did, she looked straight me, kind of surprised that I am not acting like him, but also laughing at what he said.

"Hibiki, please. Do you honestly that they are capable of that?" he then looks at like I have gone totally nuts.

"What the hell are you talking about? These are women, they'll chop us up into pieces and eat us all," he said with fear in voice.

"From what I can tell by looking at them and the smell they carry, they definitely eat meat, but not human. So calm your ass down," I then push him off of me so I could look at BC," now I assume that we will be interrogated now."

"Hmm, looks like someone is very perceptive, a rare trait in men," she said with a smirk on her face.

'Yea, where you come from maybe; but back at home, those ones are just plain out assholes,' I thought. We then walk out to a room, though I'm not sure as to what room it is. While we do so, something started to nag at my mind as if I forgot something. I then look at Hibiki, at that moment I remembered what was on my mind. I try to stop him in time but it was too late.

"What' in there?" he asked himself as he poked the girls butt and received one hell of a hard slap from her.

When we got to the room, I was still in the chair laughing my ass off at the still red and raw handprint delivered by the girl. I don't know why I tried to stop it, it was actually funnier when you see it in person and I gotta tell ya, that was hella funny.

"Jeez, what was that for?" he said as he rubbed the red handprint he had from the girl.

"It was because you were being rude to a lady," the little robot said in a lectured voice.

"Hey, I don't even know what the hell you're talking about," he yelled at the robot and then sent a glare in my direction as I was still having my laughs," and what is so damn funny?"

"Hahahaha, oooh, well Pyoro is right, you should be more respectful towards women," the two just sit their with their mouths wide open," and trust me, if your not, you'd be wishing they eat you alive."

Hibiki was about to say something, but a new visitor arrived, two to be exact. The first not being a surprise which was Meia, but the other was the future helmsman of the ship, Bart. (forgot his last name)

"What's up? Found another one?" BC asked the dread team leader.

"Yes, he was trying to hide in the platform," she said in you usual soldier, I decided right then that I should at least try to lighten her mood a little, maybe at least a smidge.

"Hehehe, hey comrades, glad to see ya here," Bart said in a nervous tone with his hand behind his head, while also trying to keep up a smile.

"My goodness, I see you all have rounded up the prisoners, but there all just kids," the captain of the pirates said maker her presence known in the room.

"Hey, hey," the little robot says as it bounces towards her," time to interrogate! I'll tell you everything," it said enthusiastically.

"Oh, how nostalgic, a navi-robot. And this one still seems to function I see," the old says with a happy voice as she sees the Pyoro.

"I'm not following this?" the doctor asked, as he was confused as to how she knew what it was and anything else.

"This is a men's ship, isn't it?!" the navy hair boy asked, still freaked out about being around this many women.

"Yes, but before that, it was used for colonization," all three of them get shocked faces when they hear this, but I just sat there without a care in the world," you really don't know anything do you? This old ship was one of a fleet that departed from a planet called Earth to colonize. Of course, this happened a very long time ago before you fathers were born. Unfortunately, your cowardly grandfathers severed this section and ran away into the night."

The little robot then spoke up to continue the explanation," they overhauled the old battleship and added residential quarters."

"And now we find ourselves back in this battleship, this is our business you know," she said with happy voice that meant trouble for them," so we'll gladly take this ship. But the problem is what are we supposed to do with you guys."

"We should get rid of them, things are already unstable enough," Meia said as she kept Bart in line with the ring beam. I let out a bit of a chuckle at that moment, she then turns her attention to me," is something funny?" she asked in a slightly angered voice.

"Well in a sense, yea," I then open my eyes to look right at her, I had to admit, and she was fine as hell. Things always seem different when you see them up close, but right now wasn't the time for that," do you always have to have that attitude of yours up? I know if you let a smile on that face, a lot of guys where I come from would jump at the chance to be with ya," I said with a smirk on my face, I then see the look of shock on everyone's faces," now if you guys are done gawking, we have some things to discuss, don't we?" I then turn back to my thoughts,' man, these guys need to lighten up, though I can't blame them. They haven't seen men and women live with each other for centuries and a guy like me just pops up and tries to hook up with an enemy that they believe is evil,' I let out a bit of a chuckle at that moment.

After being done with her little shock, old lady mango looked right at me, most likely making a note to talk to me later," so let me guess, the tall one with long black hair is a doctor, but what about the little one and our weird fellow over here," I scoff what she says about me, I've been called a whole lot worse than that so I really didn't faze me.

"They're both attackers," the dread team leader says, she then shoots me a death glare for acting the way did earlier, but I pay it no mind. I saw Hibiki was about to protest, but Bart elbows him in the midsection, shutting up the little guy and has him cursing at the blond man," I happen to see them climb into two of the man shaped machines."

Hibiki was about to protest, but I cut him off," yea, were pilots. But we're still rookies, so we don't have much experience in those machines," I then give him a look that says 'just go with the flow'; he sees it and reluctantly nods. BC then receives a report,' so it's already up to that point, huh?' I thought as she tries to find out who this new enemy is.

The whole ship shakes from the attack of the harvesters, at that moment Meia goes into action and went to get the dreads to fight, while BC tries to find out the progress Parfet is making on the paxis and the ship. Magno then orders for her to take care of the bridge, but then the wall near one of the guards collapses on them, thus knocking her out.

"Hang on, I'll get you out," the second guard said as she neared her with tears in her eyes.

"Don't move her," Duero then jumps over the seat and goes to the knocked out woman," don't worry I'm a doctor, I just want to look at my patient," he said as he gave a reassuring smile to the second guard," now come on, help me with this, carefully."

I then took my chance, hoping this would work," seeing how we're in this situation, I suggest we get as much man power out there, excuse more for the pun though," I said as I shrugged at what I said about 'man' power.

"What do you suggest?" old lady Magno asks while raising an eyebrow at me.

"Well, let me and Hibiki fight in our vanguards, so that we all live to fight another day. Afterwards, you can deal with us however you want," I suggested as I put on a calm face and voice," it would definitely be beneficial that we all survive this, so what do you say?"

She pondered for a bit, but she gave in," very well," she then turned to BC," BC, take these two to the Hangar and get them to their machines."

She nods at her captain and then looks at us," come on you two let's go."

We all run, while everyone does their thing in what they do best. We stop midway to the hangar, because it seemed that Hibiki was having a tough time deciding on what to do," uh Taiho, I don't know if I can do this," I then look at him with understanding face," I'm just not that sort of fighter, I just…" but I cut him off.

"Are you going to keep running away when the situation calls for it," he then looks right at me, with a shocked look on his face," don't you want to help these women, to protect their lives and live? Don't you want to change into someone you can be proud of, instead off someone who runs from his problems like some coward," I then give him sincere face," now is your chance to show that you have the power to become someone that is more than his title. So are you with me?" I then put my hand in front of him to shake.

He looks at me with a little admiration at that moment and proudly took my hand and shook it," you bet…partner," I chuckled at what he called me.

BC smirks at what I said," well seeing as how you two feel that way," she then holds out a device and then presses a button. The restraints that were on us then fell of our wrists and fall to the ground," go and give them hell you two," we both nod and run off to get to our mechs.

Once we get there, we see Hibiki's vanguard their on its back. The navy haired boy then walks up to his machine and puts hand on where he put the mark on it," whoa, you sure have changed partner," he then got a smirk on his face," and I'm going to do the same."

I start to look for the vanguard I was in myself, I then notice a whole in the wall that was really big, most likely my mech was thrown through there and was most likely damaged. I go in through the hole and walk what appeared to be a catwalk made from the paxis. I then happen upon a wall and skim around for a switch. When I find one, I flip it and the light slowly came on, but what I saw shocked me beyond belief.

"D-Destiny Gundam?!" I said under my breath, I then walk up to the giant mech and take a closer look at it. I find out it isn't the actual mobile suit, it was the one I had a thought up awhile back. Though its color scheme was definitely different, it was almost totally black, with red tribal marking going over it for design,' heh, it had to be red and black. Just like you Marcus,' I then jump up to get into the cockpit and notice it was just like I thought it up, the cockpit was just like off the G gundam series.

When I get in, I start to wonder how I'm going to move it without the pesky jumpsuit, but then some weird looking band latch onto me. At first I got scare as to what would happen, but when nothing happen, I looked what was on me. The bands were latched on to my wrists, shoulders, neck, forehead, waist, and ankles. Most likely for me to move my new gundam's movements; so I test it out by lifting up my hand and the gundam does it just like I did. After checking all of my movements and the gundams movements, I was about to call the bridge on the communicator I found in it, but a yell came and stopped me.

"WHAT THE HELL?! HOW COME YOUR PARTNER IS THAT BIG? 1" I barely caught myself before I took off and looked to see Hibiki in his mech. A screen showing it to be him with a pissed off face, comes up on my 360 degree vision screen.

"Look we don't have time to size up our guns here, we need to get going dammit," I then turn on the communicator for the bridge," bridge, this Taiho Lobo, do you read me."

"This is BC, what is it that you need?" she asks as her voice crackles a bit from the communication.

"I would like it if you open the hatches for our individual machines," I said in a professional voice.

"Will do," I then hear her command them do what I asked for," there you go, now go out there and take out as many of them as you can, good luck."

I then hear Hibiki take off without a word, but I wanted to let them know I launched and decided to do it in a way the characters off of the Gundam Seed series do," Taiho Lobo, in," I then think of a good name for my mech and a smile crosses my face," Dark Angel, LAUNCHING," and with that I took off to my first space mech battle, and hopefully not my last.

**A/N: **well that one chapter, I hope I made it sound good. Anyways, like I said, the rest of the chapter will be in a 3rd person's perspective from now on, unless you want to keep it the way it is. Also, who should I hook my OC up with, Meia or Barnette, or both even. I say the two for a reason, Meia being that she doesn't get anyone at all, and Barnette because a lot of fanfics don't have her hooking up with anyone, except Jura which gets kinda boring. So place your votes in the review. And with that said, see ya.

ShadowDragonGX


	2. DARK ANGEL, SPREAD YOU WINGS

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Vandread or the Gundam series, but I do own my character Taiho Lobo and his spiffy gundam.

**A/N:** Alright, now just incase you guyz don't remember, it will be from a 3rd POV from now on; now, on with the story.

DARK ANGEL, SPREAD YOUR WINGS

The battle was not going good for the dreads the women were piloting. Seeing the dire situation, Meia makes a call to the captain," the intensity of the enemies attack is increasing. It's getting more difficult to defend ourselves."

"Reinforcements are headed your way, though we don't know how helpful they'll be," Magno says while keeping a cool head on the situation.

"Reinforcements?" the dread team leader was confused, who else other than them would be able to come out and help them.

But she was cut off as one of the cube enemies got a hold of her dread. The enemy was about to fire its weapons at point blank range into her cockpit. She knew at such a distance that she would immediately be taken out, so she resigned herself to her death.

"NOT ON MY WATCH," that yell took her out of her thoughts as a mecha twice the size of a regular vanguard takes the cube with its hand.

"Who the?" was all she could say at the moment.

Taiho had just got to the cube just in time to save her. Just as he held it in place, he popped open the shoulder gatling guns and fired right at the enemy at point blank, thus destroying it," reinforcements have arrived leader."

'The males, what are they doing her?' she thought as she went back to taking down the cube enemies.

Taiho looks over to Hibiki and hears him yell about some ridiculous technique, which doesn't work at all," HEY, HIBIKI," he then turns his attention to the custom gundam," let me show you a real good attack," he then cocks his right hand and charges forward to one of the cubes. As he was nearing one, the hand bursts out flames. The hand then turns bright orange and red. He then thrusts the hand into the midsection of the cube," That was called Erupting Burning Fingers, and now HEAT END," as he said that, the cube enemy explodes into pieces.

"Woah," the navy haired boy said, but then got back to slaying enemies left and right as he took out his sword,' I'm going to need him to teach me that, that was a cool technique. Maybe he can train me, that way I won't lose to anyone and prove my existence,' he thought to himself as he rushed through the enemies while heading towards the enemy's mothership.

"I see where you're going with this man, I'm right behind ya," Taiho was about to follow until he notices something," huh? Ah shit," right in the opposite direction, another mothership appeared," looks like I'll have to take care of that one myself."

He then reaches for the his gundam large beam sword," let's see how good I am with this big guy," he then busts it forward as it elongates to its full size and activates its beam. He then opens the wings, bursting out the energy wings to confuse the enemy with its ability to do a sort of after image.

The dread pilots look in awe of the custom gundam. Jura then speaks out what everyone thought it looked like," it looks an angel," she then corrects herself for a moment," no, like a death angel," the pilots nod in agreement.

On the bridge, they see the Dark Angel Gundam taking out enemies as it heads toward the mothership," that is no normal vanguard, just what is that?" BC asks clearly confused and impressed with the piloting skills this weird man has.

"Who knows but I bet he is the one definitely knows. We will need to talk to him, if we ever survive this," the captain says as she looks upon the gundam and Hibiki's vanguard, as they both take out enemies.

"If we do survive this, our ideals will definitely be turned upside down," the platinum haired woman says, to which Magno only nods in agreement.

Hibiki was not fairing well against his enemies as he had already broken his sword on one of the cubes. The harvesters then gang up on him and hold him in place. He struggles to get out of the enemies grasp," just…a little…more, just a bit more." he said as he tries to reach for the mothership.

All the while, Dita was charging in to help Hibiki," Dita, pull back," her leader ordered.

"There's nothing to worry about. Mr. Alien is going to get us out of this somehow, I'm absolutely positive," Meia protests were cut off as she turned off her communicator

As she closes in, the mothership opens its mouth," I just need the power, just enough power to take one last step," the ship then sends out a spear like attack towards him," I CAN'T LOSE," the vanguard then explodes along with Dita's dread.

At the same time, Taiho was easily going through his enemies. He then sees that Hibiki was being held in by the harvesters," it almost time for him to combine, gotta finish quick," he then opens his wings again and charges in with his sword slung over his shoulder.

He then slices on cube right in half, but then two other came in to grab him. But he sees this coming and stabs his sword right into the one in front of him. The enemy thought he had his back unprotected and charged in, but stopped right when it got close. Taiho knew it would take the chance to attack him from behind, so right when it got close, he pulled out one of the beam boomerangs that was on his right shoulder and used it as a small sword. He then positions himself and spun around, cutting the enemies in half. Two more enemies came in and rushed him, but he caught them by letting go of the swords for a quick moment. He then crushed the parts where he had his hand on, and then he throws them into two more enemies. Right when they crashed, he took back the beam boomerang and took out his remaining one and threw both of them to the enemies, destroying four enemies at once. When the boomerangs came back, he caught them and put back in place. At that moment he took back his sword, and also put it back in its place.

Taiho then charged forward to the mothership," alright, time to test something out, ERUPTING BURNING FISTS," the hands then erupt into flames, while also bursting out his energy wings.

The ship, not wanting to be destroyed fired its spear like attack but Dark Angel Gundam evades the attack easily. He then punches his fist right through the opening it makes. He then pulled the mouth open and cocked the long range beam cannon he had in his gundam's back," EAT THIS."

At the same time he was about to fire, out of the flames of explosion, a new mech comes into view. Revealing it to be Hibiki's and Dita's Vandread. The Vandread batted away the spears, and it then punched right into the mouth of them ship and opened it. It then cocked the shoulder cannons it had.

The two mechs then fired at the same time, the their individual beams went right through the enemy ships. The ships then explode, leaving the mechs unscathed from damage.

In Vandread Dita, Hibiki starts to wake up from being knocked out earlier,' I got here…I finally…huh?!' he then notices his hands are on someone else. It turns out to be none other than Dita herself," w-what's going on here?" he nervously asks as she leans against him.

"I just knew Mr. Alien, you would protect us somehow," she says as she has her eyes closed, seemingly still asleep.

"Is this the proof of my existence?" he asks himself with a nervous voice.

"Hibiki," he then turns to a screen revealing an image to be Taiho," we need to get back to the ship, come on."

"Right, uh," he then starts to fiddle with the controls and tries his best to pilot the big behemoth. When they got close, the two machines separated," ooh, don't know if I could've handled that for any longer," he then takes the dread and leads it the hanger.

Once everyone got back, Taiho and Hibiki, along with the other two were taken once again and cuffed," 'sigh' I don't suppose you ladies could at least give us something to eat," he was met with silence," I guess I'll take that as a no."

They were all taken back to the storage room to be held prisoner once again. The ladies then told them all to strip," I don't why the hell…" Hibiki was then sprayed by water from a hose," HEY, WHY THE HELL…"once again he was cut off by the water. Duero stood there, taking it as it comes at him, while Bart squirms around like Hibiki is. Taiho on the other hand was enjoying it; it felt good even though it was cold.

While they were being washed by hoses by the women, BC and Magno were watching and discussing the current situation," so these are the only men left, huh?"

"We'll have to depend on them till we fully understand the systems on this ship," BC replied to her captain as she looked at the screen, showing the men being washed.

"Yes, I never seen anything like it before," she then thinks back to when Bart was sucked up into the little portal on the ship's bridge," it was as if this ship had a will of its own and then those two machines those two piloted were very powerful and are a complete mystery to us. Very unnerving."

We then go back to the men who were being held in the storage room," it was so unnerving. My comrades were falling one after another and before long, I was the only one left. The one thought on my mind was how close I was to death, but I persevered because I knew it was my duty as a soldier to live on and retake this ship from the women no matter the odds. Now fate has provided me with three allies, so what do you say?" the blond of the group asked to the men in the room. Duero was dealing with it without much problem, Hibiki was staring out to space, and Taiho looked like he was taking a nap.

In that nap, he was having a bit of an odd dream. It was a repeat of the vision he had before (last chapter, remember). He was fighting alongside his comrades, while taking down the harvester copies of the Vandreads. But one sticks out the most, one that was almost totally white with blue highlights on it. Last time he could hardly make it out, but now it was starting to look recognizable,' it can't be, could it? The Strike Freedom?" the image then flashes to the pilot with the same cockpit as his Dark Angel. The image of the pilot is blurry, but the clothes,' no, it can't be. Is that…' but he was brought out of his dream as someone got his attention.

Taiho and Hibiki were drawn out of their actions as Bart asks a question to the two," just what the hell happened back there?" the two then look to his direction," who made those vanguards. Yours was too big and powerful to be a regular vanguard," he said as he pointed to Taiho, he then looks to Hibiki," and yours, how come it combined with the women's machines?"

Taiho then closed his eyes and went back to what he was doing, but still spoke his answer," my mech is not a vanguard, well not anymore," he then opens his eyes to see everyone look at him," its called a gundam. I call it the Dark Angel Gundam."

"Why?" was the intelligent question the blond asked.

"Well three reasons," he then held up one finger," one, the wings on its back can open up and let out energy wings that confuse enemies image on it, because it leaves behinds after images when they're open," he then lifted up a second finger," two, because of it color scheme," he then held up a third finger," and lastly…" they all were really interested in what he was going to say next," because it sounds cool."

Hibiki and Bart then facefault, but the doctor resisted the urge and chuckled," what the hell kind of reason is that?" Hibiki asks as he gets his face off the floor.

"My own," Taiho simply said.

As soon as Bart got back up, he then looks to the navy haired boy," well what about you?"

"How the hell should I know?" he then gives a glare to him," but forget about that, you think I'm going to be forgiving you for socking me in the stomach before!"

"Now, now, calm down," he then sweats a bit and raises his hand in front of him," there's no need to be upset. I was just thinking of your best interest."

"You really don't know when to shut up, do you? There's enough hot air in here already," he says as everyone feels the heat rising in the room, as it is also spreading out throughout the whole ship.

"He's just worried," everyone then look towards doctor who spoke," he's simply trying to take his mind off things with conversation. Try to forgive him."

"Wow, you're pretty sharp. You must be one of the elite," Bart says as he is clearly impressed, he then gets an idea," so what do you think then? With my superior speaking ability, your brains, and his fighting abilities," he says as he point his thumb over his shoulder to Taiho," we won't have any trouble dealing with those…" but he was cut off from a voice behind him.

"Care to repeat that," BC says, quite amused that she caught him off guard.

"Oh, uh, we were sorta just joking around," he said nervously.

"I would like to hear those jokes, you'll come with me won't you," she sarcastically said to the helmsmen.

"Hehe, I'd be happy to as long as it's of a social nature, hehehe," he says as he puts up a shaky smile and scared face at the same time. They open the laser grid for him to come out and they both leave.

A little later on, the ship suddenly shook with force," so that idiot has started the ship, huh?" the black Dickies wearing man said under his breath," you two alright?" he asks as he looked at the two.

"Yea, I'm okay," Hibiki then flares up angered," just what the hell was that?"

"It was most likely Bart," the doctor simply answered the navy haired mans angered question.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about that, so let's just relax a bit," Taiho said as he leaned back up against the wall," when they need us for something, they'll come get us. So we don't need to worry until we're called upon."

"What the hell do you mean? We need to take back this ship from those women," Hibiki says with a voice that says 'are you fucking crazy'.

"Oh, and how do you intend to take it back when there are women roaming around this ship who can immediately call upon reinforcements?" the navy haired man was taken back by the question, he then hung his head in defeat," see what I mean, we don't have any choice but to comply what they ask us to do, plus," Taiho then got a lecherous smile," I don't mind being ordered around by such fine ass ladies."

"What you mean by that?" the doctor asked, clearly confused to what the gundam pilot meant.

"Oh, you'll find out later my friend, but don't worry. I might educated you guys on the fine points of women and what men used to be when they lived with them," Taiho said, leaving the two men mouths hanging in shock.

"You mean that men and women used to leave with each other?? Impossible," Hibiki asks as he is disturbed by the image.

"Trust me, back then when every human lived on Earth, men and women lived with each other in peace instead of war," he replied as he uncrossed his arms and put his hands in his pockets.

Duero then narrowed his eyes at Taiho,' just who are you? And how do you know such a thing? I will need to find out for myself who you really are,' he then simply nods as if understanding. Hibiki just sits there, trying to process such a thing in his head, so he does what he can do now. And that is sleep.

Up on the bridge, Magno looks upon the screen and thinks upon the conversation they just had,' this man is truly more of a mystery then those machines. How does he know such a thing and why is he so at eased when women are around when the others are a little frightened? Truly you are an enigma and one that I will figure out,' she then turns back to her crew at the bridge and tries to get them to get control of the ships actions.

After a few minutes, Hibiki starts to sweat and looks like he's having a fever while mumbling words. The only word that they could make out was 'grandpa'. So the doctor did his thing by using his forehead to check the boy's temperature. Right after his head touched his, Hibiki wakes up and immediately pushes him off," w-w-what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I was checking your temperature, that's all," the doctor answered as he had a calm voice and face.

"I-I'm alright doc, there's nothing wrong with me," he says, as he is a little creeped out by what just happened.

"Except that you were mumbling in your sleep, whose grandpa?" he asks, trying to figure out the third class citizen by what he meant by that.

"Grandpa is just grandpa, he's nothing special. He's the one who raised me ever since I was little," he answered to the suspicious doctor.

"Peculiar, I find it hard to believe that one of the first generation would be in contact with you," he said as if he knew everything.

"Duero, ease the fuck off," Taiho said in an angered voice,' jeez, this guy really needs to get off that whole rank thing, it's getting on my nerves,' he thought as he scowled at the doctor.

"You're called Duero, correct?" BC asked as she, yet again, interrupts a conversation. Everyone eyes then look up to see her," it's your turn to come with me, if you aren't too busy, of course," he just nods and leaves the two men in the so-called cell.

As time passes by, the heat in the ship continues to increase,' god damn, it's like being in California in its hottest day while eating a bag of jalapenos,' Taiho thought as he took off his sweater and shoes. He then looks towards Hibiki who has stripped all the way down to his underwear,' heh, I guess being used to such heat must have its advantages. 'Sigh' I just wish the AC would kick in.'

"My, my, we aren't doing anything naughty in here, are we?" BC asks as she sees Hibiki in his underwear and Taiho with just his pants and white wife-beater on.

"So whose turn is it to go with you now?" the navy haired boy asked in an annoyed voice.

"No ones, because I have come to ask you two a favor," she says with a calm face.

"Favor?" Taiho asks, clearly confused,' why would she need the two of us, wouldn't Hibiki be enough to retrieve Dita and Gascogne. Who else would ne…oh,' he then remembered Barnette and Jura were trapped in an elevator.

"I'm going to be honest with you two, we left two crewmen behind. I'd like you," she points to Hibiki," to help us get them back. And you," she says as she looks to Taiho," I'd like for you to get two of our crewmen free from an elevator shaft."

"Heh, give us one reason why we should care about helping you?" he says as he has a smug attitude with a smirk.

"There is no 'we' in that question, just you," he then looks over to the last male in the room," like I said before Hibiki, its better that we help them. It would be better that we all become allies, rather than stay as enemies that are always at each others throats, besides," he paused for a sec," aren't the strong supposed to protect the weak, it's our duty to protect these women and help them when the time comes," Taiho then looks to BC," so, you gonna let us out."

"'Sigh' fine, fine, you win," he then pauses himself for a bit," umm, Taiho," the gundam pilot then looks at Hibiki," after this is all done, could you maybe train me on how to fight?" he asks a bit nervously.

"Hm? Let me think," he then puts on a fake thoughtful pose," mmm, sure, but I ain't going to be easy on you. I'm going to be pushing you to your limits and beyond," he says with an evil smile at the end.

"Uh, sure, thanks Taiho," Hibiki says even more nervous now,' what have I gotten myself into?'

"Now if you two are done chatting, you have some of our crewmen to save," BC said as she gets nods from the both of them.

They walk together with a guard that was with BC; they then come upon a fork in the halls. She then point to the left hall," you will be taken down this hall, the guard will guide you to the elevator shaft that hold the two crewman," and with that, she took Hibiki down the other hall, leaving Taiho to be lead by the guard.

It took a bit of time, but they made it to their destination no problem," this the elevator shaft that has them, here is the equipment you'll use to get them, good luck," the guard then leaves him to do his thing.

Taiho then looks at the equipment given to him which was just a plain rope," 'sigh' you think they could at least give me something more high-tech. but noooo, they give a plain rope to me," he then lets out another sigh," well let's get this over with."

He then pops open the top of the elevator," WHOSE THERE? HELLO?" a voice asks, he then looks down to see who asked it. The voice belonged Barnette, Jura's faithful partner and best friend.

"IT'S YOU, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING OUT OF YOU CELL?" she asks in an angered voice.

''Sigh' like always, why does she have to be such an extreme sexist?' he then looks down to them," I'M OUT BECAUSE I'M HERE TO HELP YOU TO GET OUT OF THE SHAFT, NOW HOLD ON,' he then looks around for somewhere to tie the rope," ah, here we are," he then goes over to a pipe that is coming down from the ceiling, all the way through the floor. He then ties the rope and makes sure that it is firmly in place.

"ALRIGHT, I'M COMING DOWN," he then throws down the rope into the elevator shaft. But it doesn't reach them far enough, as he had anticipated. So he went down the rope carefully, while making sure he doesn't go too fast that he loses control and falls. When he gets close enough to the end, he lets go of one hand from the rope and extends it to the two ladies," come on, take my hand and I'll help you up the rope."

They were a bit reluctant, but they nodded. Jura was the first to get up the rope as she took his hand. She had no problem getting up the rope above him. He then extended his hand to Barnette; she stalled a bit to take it, but took it with a bit of disgust and was put below him. They all climbed up the rope to get out.

When they got up top, Jura was glad that she finally got out of it. Taiho got out with no problem," now was that so bad to be helped by me?" he asks the dark green haired woman.

"What? You damn, uh," she got mad at the male that said that and lost her grip on the rope. She was about to fall down to her death, but a hand stopped that from happening. She looks up to see Taiho trying his best to get a grip on her, so he can pull her up.

"Don't ever do that again," he says as he struggles to get her up. She took the opportunity to help him get herself up. But one thing happened, which neither of them expected at all to happen. Right when he pulled her up, she tripped and landed right on top of him, while locking each other's lips in the process.

They both got up with their faces beet red, staring at each other with wide eye,' damn, for some reason, that kiss felt good, even though it was accidental. I wonder if I could at least see is she's interested in me,' Taiho thought, but then the woman fainted on him,' well, I guess that's to be expected.'

After that little incident, everything went back to being okay. They crew were told about their new enemy and how they need us 'males' to help them, also that we have to save the two home planets Mejale and Tarak. I was glad we all had gotten through that situation and that we now could walk around freely. Though it still ticked me off that we had to use the storage room we were held captive as our new room, individual storage rooms of course.

It was at least two days later after all this happened. In the garden below the bridge, we see the two pilots training, or should we say Taiho giving Hibiki that beating of his lifetime.

Hibiki charges in with a practice sword they made. He has it slung over his shoulder and brings it down to bust his new sensei's head, but the said man just lifted his sword to block. When that didn't work, he freed his right hand and tried to hook punch him in the face. Taiho sees the punch coming and catches it; he then kneed him right in the gut. He then pulls back bit, then pulls head back bit. He then rushes it forward, toward Hibiki's head, thus head butting him. That makes the student lose his grip and fall down, while clutching his head in pain.

"Get up," Taiho says in a cold voice," this is not your limit and I know it, so get up now. If you don't, I refuse to teach you anymore," he said with stoic posture,' come on Hibiki, I know you can do this. I'm training you so that when you face Rabat, he'll have quite the challenge when he fights you. Not to mention is that you'll be able to face and protect anyone with your own two fist.'

"A-alright," was all he said as he struggles to get to his feet, though the weights bands they found in a room earlier were making it really difficult to do so. He then gets into a fight stance. And so this is how the lessons went on, all the while a few eyes were watching them train.

One of these eyes belonged to Barnette, she felt something strange from being around the man,' just why do I get a weird feeling in my stomach when I'm around him? I wasn't like that when I met him before, not until that…' she trailed off her thoughts when she started to think back to the kiss and blushed madly,' why did that even feel good? I should have been mad at him, but for some reason I'm not. 'sigh' I'm just confused, I'm going to take a hot shower,' and so she left to take one.

The second pair of eyes belonged to Meia, she wondered what it was about this man that attracted her attention to him,' what is it about you? You're just so mysterious and why is it that you don't act like the other three men here? I have to know, and I will know,' she then left to work out, to shake the questions in her head off.

The third being Dita, she looked upon 'Mr. Alien' with worry in her eye,' why is Mr. Angel doing that? Are they training? Maybe I should go get some medical stuff for Mr. Alien when they're done,' she then ran off to get some medical supplies.

The fourth, along with the fifth was Magno and Duero; both of them trying to figure out the mysterious man that is Taiho Lobo,' who are you?' the both though at the same time.

Taiho was really getting tired of all the people watching as he parried a hit intended for his mid-section,' 'sigh' I wish people would just come out and just confront me or Hibiki about what's on there minds. It would be a lot easier that way,' he then punched the navy haired man right in the face, thus sending him right to the floor," alright, that's enough sword practice. We'll now take a ten minute break, afterwards we will proceed into hand to hand combat, or as I would say, a plain out fist fight," Taiho said with a big evil smirk on his face.

"You're the 'pant' devil 'pant' you now that?" Hibiki said as he gladly lies back on the ground to get whatever rest he could.

"Heh, correction, I'm a dark angel. An angel giving the blessing that you need to get through any situation," the gundam pilot then plops himself right down beside him," the reason I'm being so tough on you man is to prepare you for any situation that is to come and I also believe that you have the potential to be a great fighter."

"R-really?" he said with a little happiness in his voice.

"Now don't let that get to your head, you haven't reached to that point yet and you have yet to be match for me. But when you do come up to my level, I will acknowledge your skill my friend," they both just laid there in silence, letting some the moments go by. He then looks at the watch he still had on since he came to this dimension, he saw that the ten minute break was up," alright times up, time we get down to our hand to hand combat training," Hibiki confidently nods and gets back up, though he still has pain from the last bit of training he stands up with the utmost confidence in his stance and face. The training went up to at least two more hours. Though Taiho hardly had a scratch on him, Hibiki came out looking like he was mangled and beaten by a mob.

"You did good for your first day of training, we will continue to do this everyday and every morning time," Taiho said in a sensei type voice. He then quickly turned back to his usual attitude," if you can't do this, you won't be able to last two seconds against me even if I had two hand tied behind my back."

Hibiki then glares a bit to his sensei," heh, whatever," he simply said," I'm going to work on my vanguard, see ya," he then ran off, but with a bit of a limp to it.

"Hehehe, you'll thank me for it someday man. Now, time to get some grub," the gundam pilot said as his stomach loudly agreed with him as it growled," hehehe, I guess you agree with me don't you," he then ran off towards the mess hall.

When he got there, he saw that there was nobody around," hm, they must still be out working, well anyways let's see what they have," he then looked at the food they had out for those who came in. He saw at least some he liked, but not the ones he wanted to eat right at this moment," what? No Mexican food, that hella sucks," he then thinks for a bit," ah, I know, it's time these ladies and some of the guys have apart of my heritages food, the Mexican heritage that is," he then goes into the kitchen and starts to cook up some food for everyone.

Dita comes into the kitchen after treating to the vanguard pilot's injury, although he was a bit reluctant at the time, he did take the treatment. When she sees Taiho cooking in the kitchen, she was a bit surprised that man would be cooking," Mr. Angel, why are you cooking?"

The gundam pilot gets startled a bit, but relaxes when he sees it is Dita," oh, well, it's just I wanted everyone have a taste a food where I come from," he says in a happy voice,' I'm actually surprised that they have the ingredient in need to make the food. I guess I should count my luck they do,' he then thinks for a bit and is struck with an idea," hey Dita," the girl then cocks her head cutely to him," could you help me with the food? I can't finish it all by myself, and don't worry, I'll guide you on how to cook the food."

"Okay," she said while jumping up and down with excitement,' yay, I get to make some new food, this is going to be so fun,' she thought enthusiastically. And so they both went into cooking mode and made the food with out any problems.

"Ooh, that was some hard work, but we made the food with out any problems," he then turns to the bubbly red head," you're a good cook Dita, you'll make someone a happy person when you get with them," he said,' namely Hibiki, but you'll find that out for yourself,' he added in his thought.

"Oh, t-thank you M-Mr. Angel," she said, as she blushed a bit,' I just hope with this food, Mr. Alien will be happy that I made some of it for him,' she thought happily.

At that moment, women started to come in and look at the selection of food laid out on the conveyer food belt," hm? I don't even know what half these are? What are they?" asked Barnette.

Taiho then comes out of the kitchen with Dita, drying his hands and taking off the cooking apron," they're food of my culture. Trust me, they're good to eat, so go ahead and try them out," all the women who were present were shocked that a man had cooked, so they started to back away from the food," if you guys don't trust me, then know that Dita helped me in making it," that got back their attention to the food, they knew that her cooking was really good. So they all picked up a plate of Mexican food. When they all settle down, they all paused a bit, just looking at the food with caution in their eye.

"Well, here goes," Barnette said as she took an enchilada by cutting it up with a fork. She then stuck the fork into the cut up piece and slowly took it towards her mouth. Everyone who saw this watched with great anticipation, ready to discard the food at a moments notice and beat down the male who made it. She then took it in her mouth and chewed for a bit, after that she swallowed the piece of food.

"So…how was it Barnette? Was it nasty?" Jura asked as the tension was building in the mess hall.

The green haired woman slowly put her fork down slowly. She then slowly opened her eyes and immediately took the taco in her hand and munched on the food madly," ifs fo goo (translation, it's so good)," she said as she talked with a mouth full.

Everyone was shocked at the way she was eating, so they looked back at their food. The shrugged a bit and took a bit of the food. To their surprise, the food was really good and they happily ate the food Taiho and Dita made.

Two people though just got more suspicious of the gundam pilot. Those two happened to be BC and the captain Magno," this Taiho is getting more mysterious by the second," the old lady says to her second in command.

"Yes, I know what you mean. One is that he acts to casual around women, second is the clothing he wear, that is not normal attire for men of Tarak. And now this, how can someone like him cook food like this when men of Tarak hardly eat this kind of food," BC says as she tries to break down the enigma that is Taiho.

"We should talk to him privately sometime, but right now I want to enjoy the food he made," the captain sound serious for a moment, but when she turned the conversation to the food, her voice became a happy one.

"Captain," BC said with a bit of disappointment. She wondered why Magno would act like that sometimes, but just chalked it off as old age coming up to her.

Back with our gundam pilot, he feel great pride that his cultural food is being consumed with smiles,' I'm glad everyone loves the food. I didn't slave myself away in the kitchen of nothing, not that Dita didn't have her share as well.'

Taiho then turns to walk out, but Meia stops him at the door," hold on, I want to ask you some questions," she then walks past him to the door," follow me," she then walks out of the door without looking back to him.

'Hmm, I wonder what she wants to talk about?' he shrugged and casually walked out the door and follows the dread team leader to where she wants to talk.

When they get to their destination, he notices it to be the same area that he trained Hibiki," so, what is it that you wanted to talk about?"

She then immediately turned around and charged at him. A bit taken back by the action, Taiho had no time to evade the punch that hit his face," just what the hell was that for?" he asks in angered voice as he rubs the area he was hit.

"Who are you?" she asks coldly and resumes her attack. She tried to punch his face again, but this time he was ready and caught the punch just before it hit his face.

"What you mean?" he says in his own coldly. He then quickly put her into a lock, putting her hand behind her back while twisting it a bit. He also had his remaining free arm around her neck, he then kick the back of her knee and had her kneel down.

She grits her teeth in anger that this man had easily put her in a lock she can hardly escape," what I mean is just that, just who are you? You act so casual around us, you even treat us with respect like the other men, as if were equals. Then there's the time you save me from being killed, why did you save me? I thought you men would've been glad to have another woman out of the way," she asks while still being held in the lock. But then the man, who confused her, released her. She then looked right at him and was even more surprised, the look he had was a bit sad.

"Well to answer you question in order, I am who I am, nothing more nothing less. I treat you girls as equals because that was the way I was brought up as a child and I will continue to do so. As for saving you, my mind was telling me to save a comrade in battle and I wouldn't be glad that you would be gone, I would actually be sad if you died," the gundam pilot explained to the blue haired woman in front of him.

She was taken back by all the answer. She never expected him to say all of that, but with the last answer, she just had to ask one more question," why would you be sad?" when she asked, as her anger was forgotten and taken over by curiosity and something else she couldn't explain.

"Because Meia, you're a comrade that everyone needs. All the women would lose hope, they would all be lost without you and plus, I wouldn't be able to see that beautiful face of yours," when he said that, she blushed a bit and hung her head, so that he won't see that very blush. He then turns to the exit of the garden," well, if that is all you wanted, I'll be going now. See ya later Meia, I hope we can become real good friends during this little journey of ours."

She didn't bother yelling back as she was still a little confused by the answer he gave,' I get the answers I wanted, but now I have so many more that are in my head. You're truly someone that none of us can figure out Taiho. But yea, I hope we do become good friends and then, just maybe, the truth about you will be revealed to me,' she then got up to take a shower, all the while not noticing that the two of them were being watched by the captain and her second in command.

"He is someone we need to watch out for. Even though he has given those answers, he still is too much of a mystery for us to fully trust," Magno says as she turned off the live video screen. She then laid back on her chair and rubbed the temples on her head,' 'sigh' I am just too old to be figuring out mysteries.'

"Yes captain, I agree with you. Taiho has too many secrets we don't know about. We should keep a close watch on him at all times to see what answers we can come up with," BC said as she gets a nod from her captain,' we will figure out just who or what you are Taiho, it will only be a matter of time.'

**A/N:** well I hope I made this chapter good for you guyz. Now need some more advice, should I have Taiho tell everything to the two captains (BC and Magno), or should I make him come up with a cover story. Also, should I give him an enhanced mode like seed mode, or should I have him make a system close to the ZERO system. Anything else than that, just review your votes on the pairing. Now with that said and done, see ya.

ShadowDragonGX


	3. GETTING USED TO THINGS

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Vandread or the gundam series, but I do own my OC Taiho and Dark Angel Gundam.

GETTING USED TO THINGS

After the little incident with Meia, the dread team leader has kept a watchful eye on Taiho. Though she admitted to herself that this man was someone she could be a friend with, she wouldn't say it or take any action to make any progress with him; most likely due to the being too prideful of being a woman.

Barnette was almost in the same boat; the dark green haired woman would not take any action to talk to the Gundam pilot. Even though she felt different around him, like Meia, she was just too stubborn and made a sort of mantra that she hates men.

Speaking of the person on the two women's minds, Taiho was now checking on Dark Angel Gundam's systems. Although he had learned a lot about mechanics and all there was about computer software and hardware in college, he had almost no idea about the Gundam's systems. The equipment on the mobile suit was too advance for him to comprehend.

''Sigh' I should have known the system was too advance for me to figure out. But I need to keep this Gundam in good condition before every battle,' he then started to think on how to figure this out. It then hit him on what to do,' of course, Parfet and Gascogne can help me. They're more familiar with such systems, and maybe I can learn a thing or two of the advance technology here,' with that thought, he ran off from the hangar of the Gundam, in search of the two women.

Once he get to the control room of the Paksis, Taiho easily spots the thick glass wearing woman," excuse me, Parfet?"

The girl turns her head to his direction from checking on the Paksis systems," hmm?" she then blinks behind those thick glasses to see who it was. Once she sees who it is, she puts on a smile and walks up to the Gundam pilot," oh, you must be Taiho, the other man on this ship. What can I help you with?"

"Well, I'm glad you asked Parfet. I've been trying to figure out Dark Angel Gundam's systems, but I can hardly make heads or tails of the stuff. So, can you help me?" he asks with a smile and happy tone.

'Are you serious? He wants a woman to work on his machine. Well, I guess the rumors were true, this guy really isn't from Tarak,' she then gave back her own smile," sure thing Taiho, when do you want me to check up on it?"

"As soon as you can, but I'm going to talk to Gasco about the Gundam's ammunitions and equipment. So I'm going to have to see you later, okay?" he then turns back to the door to leave.

"Okay, just wondering, that big Vanguard you're piloting, is that what your calling a 'Gundam'?" she asks before he left.

"Yup," he simply says.

"Oh, okay then, I'll see you later," she said as she waved at him goodbye and received one back as he left.

After a successful talk with the tech girl, Taiho makes his way to 'Reg Central'. When he gets in front of the door, he take a deep breath and prepares his little welcome. He then opens the door and is met with a lot of women wearing pink uniforms. Once they see him, they all give a pose, smile and say," WELCOME TO REG CENTRAL, HOW ME WE HELP YOU."

"Oh, nothing much, just wondering if miss Gasco is in," he said as he looked a little nervous from all the attention.

"I'm right behind you kid," Taiho then jumps a bit, startled that the woman was right behind him the whole time," and it's not Gasco, it's GASCOGNE," she yells her name out as her eyebrow twitches,' seriously, is it so hard to just say my whole name?'

"Hehehe, sorry Gascogne, but I came to ask you something," he said as he scratched the back of his head.

The large woman raises and eyebrow while holding up that smirk of hers," oh, and what would that be?"

"I was wondering if you could help me keep my Gundam, that's my Vanguard, in good condition regularly by making sure it's ammunition and equipment are good. So, could help me out?" he says with his hands in a prayer like position while giving a wink.

"Heh, sure thing kid, when do you want us to check up on your so-called Gundam?" she said as she felt glad she wouldn't have any trouble with this guy.

"Well, if you have time, right now if you could," he then turned to leave through the door," well, I'll see you guys down there, bye."

When he got back in the hangar of the Gundam, he saw that Parfet, Gascogne, and the some of the women of 'Reg Control, working on it. He then got a smile in his face, he felt glad that they were helping him in getting his Gundam in tip top condition. He decided to see how the equipment and ammunition is with Gascogne.

"So, Gascogne, how's the Gundam's hardware?" he asked with a big smile in his face.

"I have to say, this machine is truly one of a kind. It even surpasses the Vanguard and Dreads we have separately. As for its hardware, it's all in good condition, and it will continue to be in good condition as long as I have a say in it," she answered with her usual smirk.

"Good, and thanks for this," he then walked passed, on his way to see the tech girl," well, I gotta see Parfet on how the Gundam's system is, I'll see ya later," he then jumped up to the cockpit of the Gundam.

He looks in the Gundam's cockpit and sees the tech girl busy seeing how all the software the in the Gundam is," so Parfet, how's my Dark Angel Gundam's systems?"

She gets startled a bit by his sudden appearance," aahh, don't do that," he then scratches the back of his head," anyways, something is weird about its system," he then got a worried look," oh don't worry, the system itself is in good condition, but there's this one device that is puzzling me."

"Hm? What do you mean? Let me see it and I may be able to identify it," he said as he jumped down in his cockpit. She then led him to part of the cockpit and pointed to a box.

"This right here, it's the one thing that has been puzzling me," when he got a closer look, he was shocked nonetheless.

"The, the," he then slapped himself mentally," it's the ZERO system."

"The what?" she asked clearly confused.

"ZERO system, Zoning & Emotional Range Omitted, This system would not only increase the pilot's reaction times as there are no need for traditional visual interfaces, but thanks to the advanced computations performed by the computer, the pilot can become aware of future outcomes and possible courses of action that can be taken to achieve total victory or total defeat. However, due to the bidirectional nature of the system, the system had the negative side effect of creating hallucinations for those with poor mental strength, as the mood and thinking of the pilot can create a feedback loop in the system, leading to temporary insanity," he then looked little excited, but also more worried," I just hope that I can control such a system." (I got that explanation on the ZERO system off the Wikipedia site)

"Whoa," was all see could say at the moment," such a powerful system on a already powerful mech, this Gundam is truly one mech to be feared," she then got a worried look on her face," should I disable it, so that you don't have to worry about it?"

He then thought for a few seconds, it was a real good question she asked, but he made his decision," no, if I don't overcome the system itself, I won't be able to bring out the full potential of the Gundam in battle and that is not what we need right now. So, just keep it active and under good condition, okay?"

"Okay, if you're sure," she then started to do what she could to keep it in good condition.

He then jumped out of the cockpit," ALRIGHT, IF GUYS COULD, I WOULD LIKE YOU ALL TO KEEP MY GUNDAM IN GOOD CONDITION AND KEEP ME NOTIFIED ON IT'S STATUS," he yelled out to all who were working on his Gundam, he was met with many nods and smiles," THANK YOU, I WILL BE GOING NOW," he then walked towards the exit and left.

He wasn't able to get to the end of the hall until a hand stopped him, he turned and saw BC holding onto his arm," excuse me Taiho, but the captain and I need to talk to you," she then lets go of his arm and leaves, making her way to the conference room.

"Okay," he replies, knowing that he had no choice for now,' well I guess it's time to fess up on who I am, but I should leave out some things. So that they don't expect me to be a spy or traitor,' he then follows the long platinum haired woman to the conference room.

When they got into the room, Taiho saw that old lady Magno was already sitting in her chair," ah, I see you have finally arrived," she then put her hand and motioned it to a seat," please, sit down, we have something to discuss."

"Okay," he then takes a seat that was close to her," so what is it that you want to talk about captain?"

"We would like to know about the Vanguard you pilot first, it seems to big and powerful to just be a regular one," he then shot a questioned, which she knew what the questioned look asked," don't worry, we have already discussed about the Vanguard that is piloted by Hibiki, but we feel that you know more about your mech than he does."

"Well, I do know a lot of its abilities, though now, I'm not sure I know all of them," they both raise an eyebrow at him," let me explain what I first knew about it. The wings on it's back can open up and burst out energy wings that confuses the enemies vision, seeing as how the energy wings can leave off after images of the Gundam, oh just so you know, that is what the it is, a Gundam. Anyways, it has shoulder gatling guns, a long range beam cannon, a beam rifle, and its hands can heat up to a point that can burns its opponents. It also has a beam shield for protection," he then breathed a moment before continuing," but recently, I have come across a very powerful system in the Gundam, the ZERO sytem."

"The ZERO system?" the captain asked, clearly confused, but also intrigued.

"Well this is how the ZERO system works…" he then told them what he told Parfet," so that's about all I know about the system, I need to be able to control it, or I may not be able to fight to my full potential if we take it off or remove it."

"Hmm, I see your point," BC said as she took in this information of the new Gundam," our next question is, where is it that you come from? We're certain that you are not from Tarak, seeing as how you act so casual amongst women, the way you dress, and the fact that you know how to cook indicates as much."

Taiho than began to think of what to say, he then decided to tell as much of the truth as possible, but leave out some details," I come from a planet made of both men and women, the name of the planet is called Gaia. It's a small planet, so not many people know of it, as for my clothing, it's the style of clothing my people wear. Now as to how I know how to cook, I learned from my family on how to cook, they always said that one should always be prepared for eventualities," he said in a calm voice, on not betraying it own by telling that some of what he said was a lie,' well, Gaia is a close as I could get at the least, hopefully they'll buy that tidbit for now.'

"Okay, that explains a bit of who you are, but one other question pops up, what were you doing on the ship before it combined with this one?" she asked in a professional tone.

"Well, I was sent to Tarak as a representative of our my planet, so they put me onboard the Ikazuchi as a show of good faith. But I got lost on the ship, I then found myself caught red handed with Hibiki, so they also assumed I was a third class citizen," he calmly says to the two women.

They both think greatly on all Taiho had told them, they saw he told the truth, but couldn't help but feel that some of it was a lie. So they just let it go for now, knowing that later they would find out more in time," okay Taiho you may go, we have another meeting to get to."

"Alright, I'll see you ladies later," Taiho then left to go see how Hibiki's training was going. Not a second later, Meia comes into view," oh Meia, what's going on?"

When Meia sees the black clad boy, she curses under breath. She didn't want to talk to him now, seeing as how she defeated her so badly and that she didn't even know what to talk about with him," nothing is going on, if you don't mind I have a meeting to get to," she said as she passes him without even looking at him.

"Oh, okay, see ya," he said with a smile and happy tone,' I guess I should expect that, she won't come out of that stubborn shell of hers yet.'

But the both stop when they he someone scream, they both then look over to the bathroom area and see Dita being kicked out of the men's bathroom, by Hibiki," GET OUT OF HERE."

"Hey, why can't I see and watch Mr. Alien?" she asks while sitting outside the bathroom.

"HOW AM I SUPPOSE TO GO WITH YOU WATCHING?" he says in a statement, more than just a question.

"'Sigh' I was only curious," she says sadly, disappointed that she now wouldn't be able to see the little antenna that men have in between their legs.

Meia and Taiho look at each other for a second, and then back at what just happen, then back at each other. They both let out a bit of sigh together," you know, I can already tell those two will be real troublesome," the Gundam pilot said in a stressful voice.

"For once, I agree with you," she said in the same tone he had, knowing that what he said was going to be true nonetheless. They both then hear another person speaking out loud, through a microphone. They both then see it is Parfet yelling about the name of the ship and changing it to something else.

"Oh, hey Taiho, Meia, would like to give the ship a name?" she then held out some paper slips," whoever comes up with the name of the ship that is to be used will get a years worth of certificates at the Traperza (Mess hall I'm guessing)."

"Well, I don't really care about that, I need to get to the meeting," Meia said as she walked off, without as much as a goodbye.

"Oh, too bad," she looked sad for a moment until she looked to the Gundam pilot," so what about you Taiho?" she asked as she got back her happiness.

"Sure, let me think," he then started to wonder about what name, even though he knew that the name of the ship would be Nirvana, he should at least try. He then stepped up to Pyoro who was with her and started to type in the name," I think I'll go with Minerva," after he was done, he then turned his back to leave," alright, see ya later Parfet, make sure my Gundam stay's in good condition, okay?"

"Yea, no problem, and thanks making a contribute to naming the ship," she then turned and saw Jura and Barnette walking together," HEY, JURA, BARNETTE," she then ran up them to catch up.

After a few minutes of walking around the ship, Taiho was starting to get bored, until the ship started to rock a bit," shit, the enemy is here," he then ran off to the hangar of his Gundam. A few seconds later, he was joined in by Meia," I guess it's too late to state the obvious isn't it?"

"Yea, it is," they both then ran up to the door of the hangar and open it. They both see Dita just standing there, as if looking off to space, so Meia runs up to her and see what she is doing," what are you doing Dita? Get into your Dread."

"It's just that Mr. Alien just flew out of here," she then twirled around like some ballerina," it was so fast, woosh."

"He's already out there," said Jura as she just came in and heard the conversation.

The all then go over to the monitors to view the battle between Hibiki and the Harvester Cubes. They see him slash one with his sword, quickly destroying it. He then rushes toward one of the two cubes who were firing at him and stabs it right in the middle, he then looks back to see two other coming in. So, he finishes off the one he has stabbed and grabs onto the two split pieces before they explode and throws them right into the incoming enemies. He then tries to look cool and sheaths his sword in the back, seeing as how all the enemies in the area have been destroyed. A screen pops up, showing Hibiki being cocky in his mecha.

"Did all you ladies see that?" he said as he gave them a thumbs up," let's face it, you folks just can't get by without me, or my sensei, Taiho," he said as he made his mecha do muscle poses.

The group that was watching from the hangar could now feel something hot from behind them, and what they see wasn't pretty. There stood Taiho, with his eyes blazing out with flames and his entire body going red with anger. Not even Meia didn't feel like saying anything once the Vanguard got back. Once the hatch opened for the navy-haired man, Taiho started to stomp over to the mecha, towards his supposed student.

"Oh, hey sensei, how did I…" but he was cut off as his sensei gave him a good hook," what the hell was that for?" he said in an angered tone.

"JUST WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" he yells out, which scared Hibiki a bit," what have I been teaching? I have taught you on how to not only fight, but to also work as a team with your fellow pilots, and this is how you use my training," he then gives a death glare that sends a shiver down everyone's spines," you have just earned yourself some training without breaks, you will learn the proper use of my training," Taiho then turns and walk off, but before he leaves, he speaks without turning his back to him," oh, and I'm going to have you transferred to another division, so you don't cause anymore problems with these ladies," and with that he left, leaving a depressed Hibiki, who was thinking about what he had done wrong.

Getting out of her shock of the situation, Meia runs off towards Taiho. When she catches up to him, she pulls hard on his shoulder to make him face her," just what the hell was all that about? I should have been the one to speak to him about what he did? Besides, it just as much as your fault that he did what he did."

"Not really, considering his personality, I think he would've gone out there like that with or without my training," he then takes a big, deep breath to calm himself down," I'm sorry he did what he did. I'll make sure he learns on what should or should not be done, don't worry," he then walks off away from her," and think you would agree with my punishment," he says as he continues to walk.

Meia, wanting to know what he meant, catches up and walks beside him," oh, and what would that be?"

"I'm going to transfer him to 'Reg Central' and like I said, he's earned some training without breaks," he said with an evil smirk.

To say the least, she was impressed, she had the same idea for Hibiki and this made her feel alright around him, seeing as how it seem that they think alike," we seem to have the same train of thought, that will suit him just well," they both then walk off to talk to the old lady Magno.

Once they got done talking with the captain, they both went their separate ways. Taiho went to the shooting area, to let off some steam by shooting off a few rounds, while Meia went to see the condition of her Dread.

Once he gets in the shooting room, he notices he isn't the only one there. He looks over in the shooting area and he sees Barnette shooting off a few rounds of her own," hey, Barnette," he says cheerfully, which makes her miss a target.

"Dammit, wha…" she then turns back to only see the person she made the mantra up for. So she started her little mantra of how she hated men," wh-what do you want male?" but it seemed to be failing around him.

"Oh, nothing, just came here to shoot off a few rounds to calm my nerves," he says as he walked up beside her and picked up a gun that was beside her on a table," mind if I shoot of a few rounds?"

"N-no problem," she says as she turned back to shooting down her targets. After a few moment, she stops to look at him shooting and sees he shooting down the same amount of targets as her with good precision," how are you able to shoot like that."

"Heh, well when you have ex-girlfriend who was a cop, you tend to learn on how to shoot properly," he says in a sadden mood, remembering that it hurt to think about his ex, Patricia.

"Girlfriend?" she asked with a cocked head in confusion.

It then hit him in the head, he forgot that he was on a ship of men and women who don't know about being with each other," well, on my planet, men and women would get together and share their mutual feelings for each other. You know, express each others love to each other," he said as he got back to shooting.

She then got a shocked look," you mean, men and women would be with each other and, and," she then starts to have thoughts about it, and could only imagine him and her like that, which she crushes with a mental hammer," that's impossible!"

"Hehehe, not really, but you don't have to take my word for it," he said as he was about to take the last target out, but missed as the ship went to full alert," looks like we need to get going, the enemies here."

When he gets to the hangar, he jumps into the cockpit of his Gundam and gets into position to launch," Taiho Lobo, in the Dark Angel, LAUNCHING," he then flies out from the hangar and into the upcoming battle,' hhmm, it's that one sea urchin looking enemy, I just hope that sometime soon, Hibiki gets out here and combines with Meia,' he then get a call from Meia," yes, what is it Meia?"

"I know it is little much to ask, but could you not enter this fight? I need to prove a point," she says with a professional face.

Knowing how stubborn the woman was, he only nods," okay, but if it starts to get real dicey, I'm going to come in and help."

"That's all I ask for," she then cuts off the communication with him.

Deciding to hang back a bit, so that the sea urchin enemy doesn't analyze him, he hides in the darkness of space, using the color scheme of his mobile suit to do so. Once the battle starts, he sees it let out its tentacles that then harden into rigid spikes. After that, the Dreads quickly scramble into formations, trying their best to shoot down the enemy as it goes left and right, doing hit and run tactics on the ship. After awhile, he sees that they're starting to run out of ammo. At that moment, he sees the 'Reg Central' ship come in to refill their Dreads. So Taiho decides to jump in and fly right beside the ship after a hit and run tactic done by the speedy enemy. When one of the compartments opens, he sees Hibiki in his Vanguards. Once he sees it, a screen of a depressed Hibiki shows up on his screen.

He looked like he was about to say something, but his sensei cut him off," do understand now, we can't just go in head first into battle by ourselves. Look at them," he sees him look towards the Dread teams," they watch each other's backs out there and help their comrades when they are in a pinch. So if you ever do something like that again, I can assure you, that there will be no one to save your hide when your in such situation."

Hibiki then looks up to him with determination," I got it, and I'm sorry."

Getting back his mood, Taiho smirks at him," Don't worry about it, but don't think that your punishment on training is off. You will still have to go through that," he said as his smirk turned a little evil, which made Hibiki pale at and curse under his breath about how unfair it is," NOW LET'S GO," he then flies off towards the battle.

"YEAH," Hibiki then follow his friend and sensei's example and flies off right behind him," ALRIGHT, REINFORCEMENTS HAVE ARRIVED."

At that moment, the enemy shoots out its rigid spikes as missiles. Taiho barely dodges them, but Hibiki takes one to the shoulder of his mecha," you're gonna pay for that," he says as a vein pops up on his mech with a big eye popped out, as he clutches the mechs shoulder. But then he notices something," huh? What the hell's going on here, move dammit," he says as he frantically pulls the controls left and right.

The enemy then shoots another volley of missiles, which clips Barnette's and Meia's Dreads," ahh, dammit, now I'm in the same position as that man," Barnette says as she grits her teeth together.

"There's no way…" Meia says as she tries to gain control of her dread.

"I'm gonna let this thing beat me," Hibiki says as he finishes her sentence. He then blasts off towards her, and combines to make Vandread Meia.

While this was happening, Taiho sped off towards Barnette," yo, Barnette, are alright?" he asks in a concerned voice.

Barnette then looks up to see the custom Gundam over her Dread," 'sigh' yea, I'm alright."

"Good," but then he feels a sort pulse, he looks around a bit to see where he heard it. But he was cut off from his search as a light appears in between them.

There was one thing on both of their minds at that moment,' what the fuck is going here?' the light then engulfs the both of them. When the light dies down, Dark Angel Gundam went through some changes, its wings were now combined together that seemed to from Barnette's Dread wings, but they were red and black in color. The legs looked like they were segmented. On its left hand seemed to be a sort of shield with a whip attached to it, while the forearms seemed to have claws on them with a beam saber on the hilt of it. Everything else was the same.

When the Gundam pilot regains some of his senses, Taiho notices someone was on his lap. He looks to see it was Barnette. He then looks frantically left and right and sees the cockpit changed to what Vandread Dita's cockpit looked like, only with black as its base color, with red tribal marks going around.

He then looks back to Barnette and sees that she is still knocked out," Hey, Barnette, wake up," he says as he nudges a bit, not freaked out about the position he's in, in fact, he was enjoying it.

"Uuuh, what, what happened?" she then looks around until her gaze lands right behind her, and starts to freak out," WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" she asks as she looked all around and her position.

"Calm down Barnette, we need to focus now," he says in a serious, not wanting to piss her off further by saying her yell almost took off his ears.

"Well, I see you guys are having the same problem," a screen then pops up, showing Meia, who doesn't seem to be having fun with Hibiki on her lap. But it also looked like she wasn't too thrilled about the position the two were in also.

"Like I said, we need to focus on the battle, NOW," Taiho said as he was getting impatient. He really wanted to test out this version of the gundam.

Everyone who saw this on the ship stared in awe of the two mechs," those two sure have a lot up their sleeves," Bart says as he looked at the battle. But then the enemy cuts off his stare as it did a hit and run. The four see this and blast off towards the enemy.

It tried to run from the two combined mechs, but they seemed to be more faster then it," This acceleration is incredible," Barnette says as she tried to handle the speed of the new Gundam she is in. Off to the side, Jura is envious of the four, thinking on how lucky they are.

Having enough of the chase, the sea urchin Harvester launches a volley of missiles towards them, but the two mechs effortlessly weave through the missiles. Vandread Meia then appears behind the enemy while the new Gundam appears above it.

"This is exactly…" Hibiki and Taiho said at the same time.

"What I've waited for," Meia and Barnette say at the same time as well, finishing the two men's sentences.

Vandread Meia then burst forwards to pierce the enemy, while the new Gundam whips up the new whip; the whip then heats up to a hot red color and dashes towards the enemy. The two machines then went right through the sea urchin Harvester and destroy it," CROSS THRUST," the four all yell out.

While Meia and Hibiki were getting to know each other a bit (yeah right) in the new Vandread, Barnette and Taiho were a bit silent in the cockpit,' I didn't think my Dark Angel Gundam could combine with any of the Dreads, nor did I think Barnettes Dread could even combine,' but he was turned from his thought as Barnette seemed to be nudging him for a question," huh? What is it Barnette? Something wrong?"

"Something wrong? SOMETHING WRONG?! Just how the hell are we going to get out of this position, I don't want to be stuck like this when we get back to the ship, it'll be embarrassing," she said as she frantically looked for a button to disengage the new Gundam.

Sighing for a moment, he knew how to disengage the form, by just thinking it. The two then separate, leaving the Gundam back in it original form, but Barnette's Dread seemed a little different (I'll leave it up to your imagination on that one).

"No fair, Mr. Alien was only suppose to combine with me," Dita complains as she gets a pout on her face.

"So that means, that those two can combine with our Dreads, and become something elegant," she then looked at the explosion that was making it look like some sort of fireworks show," awesome."

After a few minutes of the battle, Parfet had Pyoro go to Magno," the ships name?"

"Yes, there is a list of names that the crew has made for you to pick, so please choose one captain," she said on the monitor Pyoro had, the monitor then went to a list of names the crew made for the ship.

"You want me to choose?" she asked with a smirk on her face.

"Just as long as you choose a cool sounding one," she said while a list of names went by on the monitor.

"Hhmm," she then came across two names that sounded nice for the ship," oh, the Nirvana and the Minerva, who came up with those names?"

"The Nirvana was the commander's suggestion and the Minerva was Taiho's suggestion," Pyoro said with a happy monitor face.

"Hmm, then I guess I'll name it the Nirvana, but it's other name will be the Minerva, those two sound so good that I just can't pick, so I'll go with it like that," she said with the same smirk on her face.

"Hmm, I guess that's too be expected for the commander, but a bit of a surprise to choose Taiho's suggestion too. I guess I can't really complain," Parfet said, as she went back to her duties.

Once the two men got back to their rooms, or should I say storage rooms, they are met with Bart and Duero," oh, you're back," Bart said as they entered together," hey, just what is with both of your mechs," but Hibiki was tired from the battle and went for his bed, but Taiho just leaned against the wall, not the least bit tired.

"Are you alright?" the doctor asked in concern for his health.

"Man, I'm just tired from all this, and I still have training punishment from Taiho. This just couldn't get worse," the navy-haired guy said as he put the cuffs on himself, for some unknown reason.

"Come on now, cheer up," Bart says as he offer a pellet to the third class citizen.

"Ah, not in the mood for those," he said in a tired voice.

"Really?" he said in a bit of a surprised voice.

"Oh, Mr. Alien," Dita says as she ran into the room and throws the pellets Bart had away, and puts a box lunch on Hibiki's lap. The next thing the guy knew, he had his mouth wide open for a wiener to be stuck into his mouth and forcefully chew on it," there, how does that taste?" he then swallows the chewed meat and gets a grateful look on his face.

"What is this stuff? It's real good," he then took the box lunch and started to munch down on the food real fast, while also savoring the good taste of real food.

While he ate it, Dita wanted to propose something," Mr. Alien, will you promise you can only combine with me?" she said with a blush on her face, hoping that he would say yes," Okay? Please?"

"Would you stop calling me Mr. Alien," he said in annoyed voice, not wanting to answer the plea she is giving him.

"Why? It sounds so cute 'Mr. Alien', hahahahaha," Taiho says as he teased the Vanguard pilot," anyways, come on, since your done eating, it's time for you punishment," he says with evil smirk on his face.

"Yes, s-s-sensei," Hibiki says as he takes the cuffs off and walks along side him to the training area, with only one thought on his mind,' why did I have to ask for his training?' he asked himself with a twin stream of tears going down his eyes.

**A/N:** well that's ch. 3. I understand on how you guys are saying not to rush the relationships, so I've made a way for them to really slow it down. Now if you want to know about the newly combined Gundam, yes, it is the form of Epyon; as for the ZERO system, I'll have him use it in one of the big battles, so it may or may not be soon when I have him use it. If you need to ask anything else, put it on the review and I'll do my best to answer. With that said and done, ja ne.

ShadowDragonGX


	4. THE LITTLE PROBLEMS

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Vandread or any of the Gundam series, I do own my OC, Taiho Lobo, or any other characters and machines made for them.

THE LITTLE PROBLEMS  


It had been at least a week since the attack of the sea urchin Harvester, and Taiho and Hibiki were now training. Taiho had to admit that the little guy was progressing very well. He wasn't as scrawny as he used to be and was now a bit ripped, athletically ripped, and was keeping up with the speed at fighting his sensei. But Taiho was still holding back half of his half of his strength, so as not to hurt him too bad…well, still bad, but you get what he is getting at. They had basically just their pants on, because they felt they didn't want their clothes wet from their sweat.

Right when Hibiki was about to give Taiho a good left hook, his sensei ducked right under it and uppercut him right in the stomach. Hibiki was about to double over in pain, until he felt Taiho get a hold of his left arm and slammed him down on the floor with a throw. He was about to get back up and get back to training, but he was stopped as Taiho motioned him to stop, signifying that training was over.

They both relaxed a bit at that moment. The Gundam pilot then went over to a table and picked up two towels. He then tossed one over to Hibiki," you're coming along nicely Hibiki. A few more training sessions and I'll let you go in your own way of fighting," he said as he wiped some sweat off his head.

The Vanguard pilot felt glad, but then felt a little sad at the moment," but that means I won't be able to learn anything new from you, like the techniques you use on your Gundam," he said in a disappointed tone, as he too wiped the sweat off of him with his towel.

Seeing the look on his face and tone he had, he gave a smirk to him at that moment," the training I gave you was just help you on your way to fight for yourself and others," still seeing the look on his face he continued," the techniques I have can't be passed on, but you can come up with your own techniques on your own…you just need the power of your spirit, mind, and heart to make your techniques to be made true."

Seeing the logic in his words a bit, he brightened up and looked determined," Alright, when this training is done, I'll make my own techniques and be better than you sensei. Then we'll see whose top dog around here," he said in a cocky tone, which made them both laugh.

"Well, like that you're so determined to pass me," he then took out his hand to him," let's promise to always strive to protect those we consider precious and always protect those who need it; plus, to always try to surpass each and see where we are at in our training."

Hibiki, seeing where this was going, clasped his hand with his and made a shake with it," yeah, let's do that, as men of honor," he said in a happy tone.

"Yeah, men of honor," Taiho replied back,' that one was a bit more corny than what I just said now…oh well; at least he's going to be able to fend for himself now.'

They stood up, bowed to each other, and then went to get their clothes back on. Once their clothes back on, they went their separate ways and went about their business. Taiho went to see what was going on with his Gundam, when he caught sight of what planet they were going to. He then remembered what was going to happen next.

With Hibiki, he was now working on his Vanguard to see if he could somehow upgrade it to be a bit more like the Dark Angel Gundam. He really wanted to do something like the Burning Fingers technique, if he could just find a way to incorporate that into his Vanguards systems, he could also come up with his own fighting techniques, like his sensei.

"Man, I really work myself hard here, don't I partner?" he asked his Vanguard as he closed a hatch to it, while not noticing a certain long haired red head coming up from behind him," I guess if I'm to protect anyone, it would be those women, they just need, aahhh," he then fell from his position and hit his head on a rail, as Dita shot him with a heart.

She then walked up to him, while not even caring he is getting a view up her skirt," are you okay?" she asked in genuine concern. Oblivious to the embarrassing moment, he just looked up to her and gulped in hunger for some good ol' food.

With Taiho, he went to see how Hibiki was doing, because he heard he got himself hurt while working on his mech. He then came in to see that the doctor was now checking up on him. When the doctor started to feel on his leg, Hibiki didn't mind until the hand started to go up further," Hey, what they hell are you doing?" he asked in a frantic voice as he pulled away from the doctor.

"Examining you," he said simply.

'Let's hope that's all you were doing,' Taiho thought as he looked at the situation.

"Keep your hands to yourself," Hibiki replied as he hugged himself and blushed, it just felt wrong somehow for him for another guy to touch him.

"You seem to be a bit exhausted," the doctor said as he looked him and his condition.

"Well, he would be after my training and going off to work on his mech, when he should be resting after every session," Taiho said as he announced himself.

"I see, you should take his advice Hibiki," Duero commented as he didn't mind the intrusion.

"Yeah, but I have to work on my Vanguard, or I won't be able to protect the women," Hibiki protested as he remembered the pledge he made with his sensei.

"So you're fighting to protect the women?" the doctor questioned with a smirk on his face.

"Well, you see," he then started to blush and fiddle with his fingers," me and sensei made a pledge to protect the women, and since we're stronger than they are, it's only natural for those who are strong to protect the weak," as he said all of this, the heart rate on the monitor started to quicken.

"I think that's enough on the topic of females," the doctor said as he could tell it was an embarrassing moment for the short man.

Paiway then made herself known at that moment," What's this? A video game?" she asked as she pointed to the monitor and made Taiho jump a bit from her sudden entrance.

"You've never seen a pulse-meter?" he asked, as he felt the little nurse would know about such a thing.

"What's it to you if I haven't?" she asked as she felt she was being degraded," anyway, all health problems can be solved and helped in the Jacuzzi," she said as she pouted a bit.

"Ja…cuzzi?" the doctor asked as he felt confused by the term.

"Basically, a nice hot bath doc," Taiho said as he answered the confused the doctor. He then leaned up against the wall and sighed a bit," wouldn't mind having a nice hot bath with those ladies, it'd be paradise for a guy from my planet."

"You are way to confusing for me, so I won't even ask," the doctor said as he lifted an eyebrow at him. Taiho just shrugged and went up to his student.

He then put a hand on his shoulder," you should get some rest, I know that we have said that we were going to protect them. But what good does it do if the protector is feeling fatigued and can't fight at all," he then gave a pat on his shoulder," our next training session won't be until the week after, so relax for now and take some good R & R," he then gave a stern look to him," but don't forget to do some light exercises so that you can keep the body you have just gotten now."

"Sure thing sensei and thanks," Hibiki replied in a happy voice,' good, I don't think I would be able to go another session to soon, I'm really tired.'

They both then Heard BC's voice," attention all pilots and crew members," she called out as she got everyone attention," we're going to investigate a planet, all crewmembers are to are immediately begin simulations on board the Vanguards."

"WHAT?! Women are going to be using the Van-types?" he asked to no one in particular, until he felt a knock on the head," ow, why'd you do that sensei?"

"What have I told you about being a sexist," Taiho said in a sternful voice and face.

He then hung his head low," don't be discriminative to the other sex. If you can do it, they can do it too," he said in a sad voice,' I don't know why he had me remember that, I still don't see the point in it,' he then remembered that they liked to paint their things in colors and started to think about his partner," oh crap," he then rushed off to stop them from doing such a thing to his machine.

'Oh yeah, almost forgot he get plastered with pink paint while trying to stop from Dita coloring his Vanguard,' he the let out a bit of a chuckle,' now I guess I know who else likes to wear a pink-T,' he thought as he remembered the song 'Me in my Pink-T' or something like that. As he started to remember the song, he started laugh,' that song was hella funny,' he thought as he walked out to where they will have the simulations.

They were all in the monitoring room watching the women try and get a feel for the Vanguard types. While monitoring them, Parfet came in," hey Taiho, I need to tell you something," she said as she motioned him over to her.

Not seeing anything better to do, he went over to her," hey Parfet, What's up? Is something the matter with my Gundam?"

"No, but we did find out a neat thing about it," she answered with smile.

"Oh and what would that be?" he asked as he raised his eyebrow.

"We found out that the Gundam can go in and out any planets atmosphere and adapt to its environment. I was checking its systems, when I happened upon apart of its specs. It seems that the Gundam is an all purpose type mech made to survive even the toughest of environments," she said as she gave him the low down on his machine.

"Cool, so I can go with them on this little mission," he said as he felt that he could he could help them when the situation gets tough on the planet's surface, he then turned to go back and see how the women were doing," thanks for the info Parfet, I'll see you later."

"Yeah, see ya," she then left to go back and see how the Paksis is doing.

He came just in time to see Meia pushing herself in the simulation. The doctor then pushed the intercom for that specific sim pod," are there medical overrides on Mejale?" she then looked at the popped up screen of the doctor," on Tarrak, doctor are given authority if they see the pilots in similar situations such as this, do you want that?"

"Of course not," she snapped back at him, angry that this male thought she was weak.

"In that case, I would advise that you open your vid monitor to all directions. That should help lessen the stress to your body," he replied as she gave some advice to the blue haired woman.

"Keep your advice to yourself. I don't need help from anybody, least of all from you. I'll be fine, thank you very much," she said as she gave scornful look to him.

Deciding that he should at least talk to her, Taiho left to wait for outside of her pod, not noticing that Hibiki was behind him, until he was stopped and stuffed in between Jura's melons.

When the doctor came to see Meia, he saw Taiho was already there and stepped back bit into the hall and watched to see what would happen,' hmm, what is you are going to do Taiho? Let's see how you handle this.'

When the sim pod opened, Taiho went over to her and put a hand on her right shoulder blade," you doing okay?"

"I don't see how that's any of your concern," she said as she looked away from him.

"It does concern me, because you're my comrade and I don't want to see you in such a state," he said as he rubbed his hand up and down her back.

Feeling a bit weird from such contact, she batted away his hand and started to get up," I don't want your pity," she said only to almost fall, but was caught as two hands came around her waist.

"I'm not giving you pity, I'm giving you the chance to have a friend," he then spun her around so she can look into his eyes," but I can't succeed until you let me in. Why are you so afraid of someone getting close to you?" he asked as he slowly raised his voice, he just couldn't figure out, even though he saw her memories from the episodes.

That made her snap and she slapped him across the face," I 'M NOT AFRAID OF ANYTHING, YOU DON'T KNOW ME AT ALL," she then pushed herself off of him and stomped away to the door. She then gave one last look to him and couldn't help but feel bad,' why? He's the one who shouldn't have butted in, so why do I feel bad?' with that last thought, she left to go work and let off some steam.

Feeling the sting on his cheek, he couldn't help but chuckle a bit,' there you go again, you go and try to make a girl feel better and what do you get? A real hard smack to the face,' he then leaned up against the wall,' it's almost a replay of my life back at home,' he thought as he remembered the same smack he got from his ex-girl. He then heard a camera snap and someone saying 'Pai check', which made him a little frustrated,' Paiway,' he thought slowly.

"Are you alright?" the doctor asked as he finally felt it was time to come in,' what was he trying to do? To get so close to woman like that seems strange, but almost right for some reason; this is a scenario I must solve,' the doctor as he remembered the scene between them.

"I'm good doc, nothing like a good fight to make you feel good," he said in a fake cheery tone. Duero could tell he was faking, but didn't say anything as he felt that it was his way to cope with things," well, time to get ready for the operation, see ya."

"Until then Taiho," he said as he watched him leave.

'I don't want her to go on this mission, she almost got killed when she did,' Taiho thought as he started to go over to the Vanguard Hangar,' what can I do to stop her from coming,' he then looked at all the Vanguards and got an idea,' hehehe, time to use the knowledge I got from Gasco and Parfet,' he thought as he remembered the lessons he got from the two women.

When about an hour passed, he wiped the sweat from his brow,' good thing I asked those two teach me how to work on the software and hardware of these mechs, or I might not have been able to sabotage the ones she might've taken,' he then looked the ones he didn't touch,' at least with just us, we won't be cutting it close when the planet goes boom,' he then heard his stomach growl a bit,' hehe, I see that you're hungry, huh pal?' he then started to walk out of the hangar and towards the kitchen.

When he went around a corner, he saw Jura and Barnette coming down the hall with some food. Taiho went straight back to the corner to hide,' please don't see me, please don't see me, please don't see me, oh please, just don't see me,' he thought as he remembered the offer, upon offers, to combine with Jura's dread and turn into something 'elegant'.

As they passed, they didn't even notice him there, until Barnette looked back to see him freeze up,' hmm, why is he hiding? Oh well, it's not like he's trying anything to get Jura,' with that thought on Barnette's mind she continued on her way with Jura.

Taiho then let out a sigh of relief," glad she didn't snitch on me," he then cocked his head a bit though,' but why didn't she tell Jura I was here? Eh, not my problem, as long as Jura is off my back for awhile, I'm good,' he thought as he entered the kitchen, only to see Bart go for a piece of food," Hey Bart, what you doin'?"

"Oh, Taiho, you see this," he said he pointed to some overly spiced beef," this is food women eat, want to try some?" he asked as he was curious to the taste of food women made.

"First of all, you don't want to eat that piece of food," Bart then looked at him questionable," it's too over spiced for you or anyone who doesn't eat anything particularly real spicy," Taiho then went over to a fridge and brought the left overs of when he cooked the Mexican food he made for everyone," here, have some of the food I made," he then put the enchilada in a microwave to heat up, once it was done, he gave it to Bart.

"What is this?" he said as he looked at the strange piece of food.

"My cultures food, from my planet," he then motioned his hand to him," go on, eat, it may taste different from the tablets you guys eat, but it's good. Trust me," seeing no harm in it, he took a small bite from the piece of taco.

After munching it for a few moment, he got a good look on his face," wow, this is good," he then started eat it faster, but savored the taste in his mouth.

"See, it's good that I stopped you from eating the fire hazard that was one that plate," Taiho said as he went and got his own taco.

"Thanks Taiho, your good guy," Bart said as he finished the enchilada," well, see ya," he said as he walked away only to see Dita in front of him," oh, hi."

"Oh hello there Mr. Pilot?" the ice cream in her right hand started to melt a bit," uh-oh, you want one?" she said as she offered it to him.

He started to think a bit, but just shook his head," naw, I already ate something and I think I'm good as is," he the walked past her to the door behind her," I'll see you guys later."

"BYE," they both said, they then heard the door on the opposite side open. The person who just walked in was Ezra," HEY EZRA," they both said in unison.

"Hi there you two, having a good time?" she asked in that sweet tone a mother has. They both nodded to her question.

Dita noticed that she was carrying a lot of lemons in her arms," Ezra, what are you doing with those?"

"I've been craving for something sour lately," she answered shyly, as it felt a bit embarrassing to be eating so many lemons. Taiho gives a bit of a chuckle while Dita just got a cute look on her face.

They both then heard the alarm, signifying it was time for the operation to commence," let's go Dita, we don't have anytime to lose," nodded as she threw away her ice cream in the sink and ran with Taiho to the Vanguard Hangar.

They all get in their respective machines and blast off towards the planet, though there were some complications with Dita and Jura fighting over Hibiki on who would combine with him first,' at least she isn't trying to go for me…for now,' he thought as he felt of the hook for the moment.

When they entered the atmosphere, the Gundam indeed adapted to the heat and went through it no problem. Once everyone started to get close to the ground, the Vanguards sprout some metallic umbrella and floated down and landed softly, with the exception of Hibiki who just plain out crashed on the surface. Taiho though just used his energy wings and boosters to land on the ground safely.

Back on the Nirvana, Meia made it to the Vanguard Hangar," oh no, I got her too late," she said as she looked around and saw that no one was around, nor was the carrier for the regular Vanguards.

"Don't push yourself," she then turned her head to Pyoro who spoke," won't they be alright without you Meia?"

"This shouldn't have happened, I'm responsible for all of them," she said in an angered tone.

"The drop ship was only meant to be used one-way, there aren't any others," the little robot said to her in a sad look.

"What are you talking about?" she asked in surprise, but shook it off," 'growl' whatever, I'm going anyway," she then jumped in to the cockpit of a grey Vanguard, but it didn't move," what the hell?" she then got out and started to try out the other machines, but to no avail, none of them worked at all.

Seeing this, she went back into the grey Vanguard to see what was wrong. She then found out that it had been tampered with,' who would be able to do this, only me, Gascogne, or Parfet could do this. But then again,' she then remembered the concerned man that wanted her to feel alright,' it had to be him, no one else would do this,' she then started to repair what was wrong with mech,' you won't stop me from going on this mission Taiho.'

Back on the planet surface, the five pilots started to search the planet for anything to salvage," well, this place is deserted," Jura said in a bored tone.

"There wasn't any need for Meia to come here," Barnette said as she looked at the area around her from the viewing screen.

"Wow, look at all this sand," Dita called out as she saw the endless view of sand dunes. Everyone then started to go in separate directions.

"Hold on, don't go off on your oww, whoa," Hibiki started to say until he slipped up on the sand dune he was on and slided down to the bottom.

"Mr. Alien," Dita said quickly as she tried to catch but he still went down to the bottom of the sand dune.

"You know, come to think of it, this is MY first time using a Van-type on land, too," he said to himself, as he had an embarrassed look on his face," man, I must look stupid."

A red mech then appeared beside him, it then laid down on top his Vanguard," hey, can't we hurry up a little," Jura said in a sexy tone.

"Y-Ya gotta be kidding me, right?!" Hibiki said as he looked at her with a comical scowl. A rock then hit the red mech in the head.

"Dita?" she asked in surprise.

"The only one Mr. Alien is going to do it with is me," she said in an angered tone.

"Now just a minute, who do you think you're talking to?" Jura snapped back, wondering when the little girl had the back bone to say such a thing to her superior.

"We-well YOU CAN'T DO IT," she yelled out as the sparks started to fly in between them.

Looking at the scene between the two, Taiho had only one thought,' you know, if they were fighting and saying things like that on earth in my time, it would sound so wrong, yet so wishful to us guys.'

Having enough of the situation, Hibiki explodes at them," WOULD THE TWO OF YOU JUST CUT THAT OUT," he then blasted off up into the air to get away from them, when he tripped on some laser wire. Sounds were then heard and lasers shot out from the building in almost every direction.

"What's that?" Barnette asked as the laser homed in one target and hit Hibiki's Vanguard. Hibiki then fell to the ground only to have Taiho catch him in time before he hit the ground.

"You alright man?" Taiho asked as he popped a vid screen to see how he was physically doing. The sand behind the three women pilots was then shot up.

"What now?" Jura asked as the situation wasn't looking good.

A few moments passed as a strange sand storm seemed to be affecting their systems," landing party, status report," a voice called out as BC face came up on a vid screen.

Everyone started to give frantic reports, but Taiho knew it was going to be okay. So he calmed himself down and start to try something, as the sand started enter through his Gundams body, he heated the exterior of his armor as much as he could. He then looked at his hand where some of the sand turned in to fragile like glass which crumbled off when he closed his hand into a fist.

Seeing how everyone was doing, he knew he couldn't do the same for them seeing as how they were partially covered,' if I do it when they're like that, I'll most likely burn them alive in those machines, hurry up Jura and let them know you can use the vacuum thing on the Vanguards,' but then he heard a voice that he didn't want to hear at that moment.

"This is Meia here, does anyone copy?" the blue haired woman called out as she finally made it to the planet surface.

'What the hell? I made sure those mechs were out of commission,' he then started to get worried now for sure,' I need to get to her, now,' he then blasted of towards her position, knowing that the others would be fine.

When he got close to her position, he saw that she was still not covered in sand. But when he looked at what was in front of her, he quickened his flight speed," MEIA," he called out, only to have the Sandguard blast off towards her and capture her mech," shit."

"What…should I do?" Meia asked herself, as she clutched her head in fear," I'm scared," she said in a weak voice.

"You don't have to be," a voice called out, a screen of a concerned Taiho then appeared on her viewing screen," I'll get you out of here," he then started by trying to scrape off, only to have the sand come back on," dammit, this the reason why I sabotaged the rest of those Vanguards, you weren't in the condition to be piloting these damn thing."

"Damn you, you know this is your fault," She called out in anger and fear,' someone, please save me,' she thought weakly.

"Whatever, I'll take any blame you throw at me. But I'm still going to save you, no matter what," she then shot her eyes right into his own," I'll save you, even if I have to give up my own life," he said as he vigorously tried to get the sand off," DAMMIT."

Seeing how the situation, she closes her eyes," go on, leave me, go and save the others and get out of here," she said in a resigned voice.

"Don't you dare give up on me leader; I won't forgive you if you die here now. I will go into heaven, bring you back down, and give the smacking of a lifetime to get your senses straight if you die on me now," The sand had now completely covered her mech and he was now grappling with it,' what should I do? If I don't do something now, she's going to die, along with everyone else?' the then got an idea,' it maybe a bit crazy, but it's all I got for everyone to get out of here in one piece.'

"Go, don't do this for me," she called out to him.

"I'm sorry leader, but I have to do this," he then broke out of the grappling contest and rushed in and gave a big hug to her mech. Even though it was just her mech, she felt embarrassed that he was giving her such a close contact hug. But then she felt a slight heat in her mech. When he had let go, the sand crumbled off and she was now free from the sand.

"How did you…" but then she was cut off as alarms went off at that moment, they both looked at each other and nodded. They then went over to back up everyone else and tried to get out of there as soon as possible.

Seeing this was now time to enact the rest of his plan, he called out to everyone," guys, I need to tell you something," everyone then looked at him," when I give the signal, you blast off towards the Nirvana, I'll take care of the rest here."

"Wait, what about you?" Barnette asked in concern, she felt bad to just leave someone who saved one of their own.

"I'll be fine," a group of sand guards then appeared right in front of him," GO," he called out. They blasted off, albeit reluctantly, and left him to his plans.

'I know this is going to sound cheesy, but at least it will sound a bit cool too,' he thought as he brought his hand to his face," this hand of mine is burning red, its loud cry tells me to defeat you all," he then shot his hand up into the air. He clenched his right hand into a fist as it erupted into a big flame," HERE I GO, ERUPTING BURNING WAVE," he then slammed his fist into the ground. A wave hot fire then shot out from him where he was and sent it out into the area around him. This made all of the sand turn into fragile glass, thus made all of the Sandguards turn into glass and fall to pieces.

Back up in space, there was only seconds before the self destruction would occur,' come on sensei, please make it,' seconds went by, until…boom," NO, TAIHO," he called out as he looked back at the explosions occurring all around the planet. Everyone started get sad, they all started to think about the man known as Taiho Lobo, who did nothing but be kind and help them out.

'Why did you save me? You could have just saved yourself, so why did you do that?' Meia thought as she slammed her fist against the wall of her mech and tried to fight back the tears in her eyes.

'He's gone, he's really gone…how can that be?' Barnette thought as she looked at the destruction occurring on the planet surface,' you always seemed so talented, kind, smart, and almost invincible, but now…'

"Hey, what's with the long faces?" a voice called out. Everyone's eyes shot up to look and see a Gundam shoot out from the fires of destruction on the planet," it'll take more than a planet size bomb to take me and Dark Angel Gundam out," he said in a cocky tone as he vid screen popped up on everyones monitors, showing him to be partially fine," though I will need an aspirin for this killer headache I got," everyone face faulted as he said that.

After some moment, there was an announcement about what the Harvesters were after. Taiho just went ahead and landed in the hangar, he already knew this information, so it didn't really matter if he heard it again.

Once he got out of his mech, he was met with a hard slap to the face. He looked to see that it was Meia who once again slapped him," DON'T YOU DARE DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT AGAIN," she yelled out in front of him.

A bit taken back by this outburst, he knew what she was feeling. So he went up to Meia, who was still yelling at him, and hugged her," I'm sorry leader, I just did what I thought was necessary, you're more important than I am here."

That made her just start hitting his chest a bit," don't you say that, you're my subordinate and I'd be damned if you die on me like that again, do you understand me?" she said as she looked in to his eye, while still being held in his arms.

He just sighed and closed his eyes for a bit," yes sir, I'll try not to go against your orders again sir," he said as he opened his eye and smiled," but anyhow, I'm glad that you're alive at least," he then tightened his hug on her.

That made her blush and quickly got out of it," very well, I expect you to be ready for the next mission Taiho," she replied as she looked away from him and then she left, without as so much as a goodbye. There then a sound of a camera being used again, with the same voice saying 'Pai check', which ticked Meia off a bit,' Paiway,' she thought slowly.

"See ya leader," he called out, he then remembered how warm she felt in his arms,' it looks like I'm finally starting to crack that shell of hers, hopefully it will do wonders for her in the future when she does get out of it,' he thought as he walked over to the other pilots, who were happy to see he was alive and ran to him to give their congratulations,' this is my new life, and I'll live it to best of my abilities.'

**A/N: **Well, that CH.4 for ya guyz, hope I made it good for ya. I hope I didn't make it too corny for the G Gundam reference. As for the Taiho and Meia, it's just to make the relationship grow in someway, but you'll just have to see where I take. If you guyz got any questions, post them up on the review, ja ne.

ShadowDragonGX


	5. MEMORIES

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Vandread or any of the Gundam series, but I do own my OCs and their mechs.

MEMORIES

"Just what the hell were those two doing?!" Hibiki asked himself as he saw both Taiho and Meia being carried off to the emergency room. He then slams his fist into a nearby wall," dammit, what happened to you after that damn woman's dread got beat, Taiho?" he then started to remember the situation that happened during the attack on the Nirvana, which is still happening now.

_FLASHBACK _

_Everyone was already out and trying to shoot down the new type of enemy, but they were just too fast catch up to. Fortunately, Taiho and Barnette combined their machines to make, what Taiho called, Gundam Epyon. With the speed and power of the Gundam, the enemy was getting a good run for its money. The only problem was that when one was cut down, two others took its place, thus making an endless cycle of enemies trying to destroy them._

"_Dammit, we just keep cutting down these Harvesters, but they just keep coming," Barnette said through her gritted teeth._

"_Calm down, we can't beat them with a hot head, so cool it," Taiho commanded as he was appointed second in command to Meia just the other day._

_Calming herself down, so listens to him. For a long time now, she has grown to accept the man who she was piloting with. That and she felt glad that Meia found someone she could at least trust someone to a degree," sorry, sub-leader, won't happen again," she said with a calm tone._

"_Good, now let's get ba…" he attention is then distracted as he sees Meia trying to maneuver around the speedy Harvesters,' no, in the series, she got seriously injured,' with a determined look on his face, he directs the Gundam in her direction and blasts off,' I won't let that happen again, not now.'_

"_Ahh, dammit, I need to take down at least one of them," Meia said as she tried to take down one she was chasing. She then locked her sights on it,' gotcha,' but then it suddenly pulled up and went right behind her," What?!"_

_Neither her nor Taiho had enough time as the Harvester blasted a few rounds off at her and got a clean shot on her and exploded. Taiho, upon seeing this is stunned, so much so that he didn't realize he disengaged Gundam Epyon and went back to his own custom Gundam._

"_What??" Barnette asked herself, she then opened communications with the Gundam pilot," sub-leader, what's wrong? We need to combine back and take down the enemy, quickly," though she said this, she too was stunned that happened to Meia, but she could tell that Gascogne was already on her way to get her damaged Dread back to safety," sub-leader?" she hadn't received a reply," Taiho? Hey, you in there? TAIHO?!"_

_The only thing going through his mind right now was Meia Dread being blown up,' no, I couldn't make it,' he then hung his head low with wide eyes,' what if she's actually dead this time? What if she'll be comatose because I didn't make it in time?' he then closed his eyes and gritted his teeth,' that's it; these guys have been getting off light. It's time they know what this Gundam can truly do!!' he then looked up with rage in his eyes," ZERO SYSTEM, ACTIVATE," he commanded to his Gundam. The three sixty degree vision in the cockpit was then blinded by a yellow light._

_Seeing this, Taiho blasts off toward the one that shot Meia down. It doing was the same thing it did to her as he chased it down, when Taiho locked onto it, it then did the same maneuver to him. But then abruptly stopped and quickly turned around. Still in the process of doing the loop, Taiho cocks then his beam rifle in hand and waited. Once the enemy saw it was about to be destroyed, it tried to get away, but it was already too late._

"_Die," he said in low, growling voice as he pulled the trigger and shot down the enemy. He then saw one going straight for the Nirvana," OH NO YOU DON'T" he yells out as he cocks out the long range beam rifle from his back and shoots. But the one thing he didn't expect to happen was it seeing the attack and dodging it. The beam continued on, straight for the Nirvana._

"_No," he whispers to himself as the beam hit the Nirvana dead center and was then destroyed," NOOOO," he called out as he closed his eyes to the explosion._

_Once he opens his eyes again, he see the Nirvana is still intact," what??" he asks himself. But he was cut off from thinking anything else as an enemy came up from behind and speared right through his Gundam, thus making it explode._

"_AAAAHHHH," he yelled out as he panted from the vast amount of future data he was receiving from the ZERO system," ZERO SYSTEM, DEACTIVATE," he called out as the yellow light disappeared from the three sixty degree vision monitor. He then collapses on the floor, breathing for air from all the mental stress done to his brain. Once he gained enough of his senses, he tries to get back up, only to be hit from several shots._

"_AHH," Taiho yelled out as he gritted his teeth together to suck up the pain. He was about to go and get some payback, but he then shot several more times. He started yell out in pain, until one of them simple used its body and hit him hard on the Gundams head. This in turn made him feel the blow and was knocked out, as several more shot were fired at him, a smaller yellow mech dashed forward and took the Gundam by the hand and blasts back to the Nirvana._

"_Hang in there Taiho, you better not die on me now," Hibiki said as he hoped his sensei heard him._

_END OF FLASHBACK_

"DAMMIT," Hibiki yelled out as he punched the wall again.

"Mr. Alien," a feminine voice said in a quiet tone. He then turned his head to see Dita in a worried state," I know we should probably be staying to see if they'll both be alright, but…" she trailed off as she hung her head down.

"Yeah, I know, we need to take those enemies out before we worry about them," he said as he walked past her with his front hair shadowing his eyes. Once the view gets closer, his eyes show great fury within them,' I'll make them pay sensei, that you can guarantee.'

"Right," she replied back as she followed him back to the battlefield. She then stops a bit and looks back at the door of the emergency room of the two leaders,' make it back to us you two, please,' she pleaded in her thoughts as she ran to the Dread hangar and make the enemy pay for what they did to her friends.

Back in the emergency room, Duero and Paiway try their best to stabilize the two pilots conditions. As Meia started to drift off into her own memories, so did Taiho, as he closed his eyes for a bit and watched the flashback of his life before coming to this universe.

_TAIHO'S FLASHBACK _

_"How do you like the necklace," his Japanese mother asked as he eyed the chain with the cross around his neck._

"_You're a real chip off the old block, you know that," his Mexican dad said as he ruffled his hair a bit._

"_What have I said about coming home dirty," his mother scolded him, she then got a little grin on her face," you won't be able to impress any girls and become a real good dad when you marry them."_

'_Huh?' Taiho asked himself mentally, as he started to see his father working on the computer and showing him the ropes on how it works. He watched as he saw his mother do a harsh throw on him and started lecture on his fighting posture. He watched as they both tried to get him to cook properly of their traditional foods._

'_I see, I guess this is my version of looking back at the past,' he thought to himself as he watched the images go by. But then he saw an image he didn't want to see, an image of an incident the happened before he went to college._

On the outside of the two unconscious pilots, they both let out a tear at the same time. Paiway, who saw this was taken back a bit. Noticing the surprised sounds, Duero looks back to them," this is the first time…I've seen Meia cry and I didn't think that men could cry too," looking on this, the doctor started to wonder what the two were experiencing.

One the bridged, everything was getting way to hectic, as the battle was not going very well with out its leaders," it seems that we've taken Meia leadership for granted. We've neglected to train a proper sub-leader in case she was ever incapacitated."

"If I were to hear that before that man came, I would think that she would still be too stubborn to allow us to make one," Magno said as she got BC's attention," before he came, she avoided human contact as much as humanly necessary. She avoided relying on people," she then hung her head a bit," but then that man came and changed that, but he had to go and use that system when he knew it was dangerous."

As Magno started to explain Meia's previous behavior, Taiho started to have more images of the past.

"_Hey, you wanna go out tonight man?" Marcus asked as he came into his house and waved at his mom._

_He seemed to think about this a bit, but then grew a little smirk," yeah, sure man, I sure could have some fun now," he then turned to his mom," hey ma, I'm gonna go out. I'll be back later on tonight."_

"_Okay, but don't come home too late," she replied as she gave him a smile. He nodded and they both went out to the car and left to go to a bar._

_They both had some fun drinking at the bar, until a girl came and started to talk to them," hey, how's it going?" she asked in a sexy voice._

_Not one to turn the little game down, he grew a playful smile and posture," Oh, it's going good, but I'm not so sure now," he said in an equally playful voice._

"_Oh, and why is that?" she asked as she stepped up closer to him._

_He then wrapped his arms around the girl and squeezed her butt a bit," cause a cop shouldn't be wearing a thong right now, much less an outfit that isn't exactly standard issue."_

_The girl then took her blond wig off and shows that she had short black hair. She he dark brown eyes with a cute mole under right eye, her outfit though would make any guy stare at her for hours. (I'll leave it to your imagination on that one)_

"_Oooh, you're no fun," she said as she gave a cute pout to him, but then got a loving smile on her face," but you always were the observant one weren't you?" she asked as she wrapped her arms around his neck._

"_Hmm, I haven't really noticed," he replied back in a fake thoughtful voice. She giggled a bit at his little attitude. After her little giggle, they both looked at each other for a bit before they both met in a passionate kiss._

"_You definitely need to get your own apartment and stay there, you two do that way too often," Marcus said as he interrupted their kiss time, which made Patricia stick a tongue out at him._

"_Don't be jealous that you don't have a girl now," she said in a cocky voice," you just need find the right one that's all."_

"_Yeah, yeah, thank Oprah, I'm feeling much better now," he said in a sarcastic tone._

"_Alright you two, settle down," Taiho said as he interrupted THEIR fun," now how about we have a bit of a drink now?" he asks Patricia, as she nodded to him. They all started to talk bit, having fun just talking to each as they are._

_This lasted only until a guy came along and wrapped an arm around Patricia," hey baby, how about you ditch these losers and come see a real man in action," this made Taiho scowl hard at him._

"_I'm sorry, but I don't date pigs that smell like shit," she said in an angered tone and punched him in the face._

"_Why you little bitch," he said as he cocked his hand back to punch her back only to have it stopped by someone._

"_I think you should leave us sir," Taiho asked calmly as he held the punch back._

"_Get off me you asshole," he then used his other hand to punch Taiho right in the face, but Taiho just leaned his head to the side._

"_Bad move," he said in a quiet tone, as he took a position and tossed him over to the other side of the bar. This made the jerks buddies come and try to gang up on our hero._

"_You're gonna pay pa…" one of them says, but he was cut off as a hard punch came from the side and hits one of the thugs. Taiho looks to see Marcus cracking his knuckle bit with a satisfied smirk on his face._

"_Ya'll think ya can gang up on my homie like that? You all must be out your damn mind," he said in a cocky tone._

"_GET EM!!" the leader said, which was the one Taiho tossed. They were all about to attack the two, but a gunshot went off and made the group stop._

"_Now freeze right there, I can only let this go so far. I am, after all, a police officer," Patricia said as she pointed her gun at them and pulled out her badge. She then went up to the jerk who tried to harass her," you are under arrest for harassing an officer of the law," she said as she slapped some hand cuffs on him and started to read him his rights._

"_Umm, why do you have hand cuffs baby?" Taiho asked as he wondered about it, but only came to one conclusion, which she answered when she spoke to him._

_She got a little evil smirk on her face as she turned her head to him," you'll just have to find out after I dump this guy off at the station," she then picked the jerk up and leaned in to her boyfriend's ear to whisper," I'll give you a hint, it involves you wearing them on my bed," she then left, knowing full well that she was leaving a hanging mouthed Taiho in the bar._

"_Damn, you really got lucky on this one man, I have to say that I'm a bit jealous," Marcus said as he looked on his buds face._

_Once he got his mind deep out of the gutter, he turned to his best bud," well, seeing as how this place is a bit broken, let's get outta here."_

"_Oh I'm sure you want to freshen up for your BONDING time with your girl after this, or should I say bondage," Marcus said with a smirk._

"_SSHHH," Taiho replied, as it felt a bit embarrassing to say something like that out loud where everyone could hear," seriously though, lets just call it a day for tonight, okay?"_

"_Sure, let's get going," they both then head out to the car to leave. Once Marcus got to his house, he dropped him off by his car. Seeing this was a time for them to part, they both do their dabs goodbye. (The up, down, and straight fist to each other, if I remember. Don't really know since I didn't see that point in knowing what it was called.)_

"_I'll see ya later man," Marcus nodded and left as soon as Taiho closed his door. Taiho then went to his car and started it. He then drove off to the police station where his girl works at._

_Once he gets to the entrance of the station, he is greeted by his dad," dad? What are you doing here?"_

"_The computer system here was going haywire here, so they called in an expert to check on their systems, which of course is yours truly," he answered in a proud tone. Taiho just shook his head at him, but then caught sight of his girl police car._

_Once they got out, he waved at her, which she returned as she dragged the guy from the bar toward the station. But then something unexpected happen, the jerk quickly pulled out the gun that was sticking from her back pocket and aimed it at him._

_Everything seemed to go in slow motion as he aimed the pistol at him. But Patricia tried to pull it away from him, only to get shot in the stomach. Taiho, who saw this, ran at him with rage in his eyes. The jerk saw this and aimed the gun right back at him and fired._

_Taiho was then pulled down to the ground as his dad drug him to the ground to avoid the shot. But the shot continued on and hit the gas tank opening of a police car; it then exploded and made the jerk get blown back into the wall, and knocking him out._

_After the ringing in his head stopped, he looked up to see his dad still on top of him," dad, you can get off now, I need to see how Patricia is doing," he got no answer and no movement from him," dad?" he asked again, as he started to shake him a bit," dad?" he asked again as he started to shake him harder," DAD?!"_

_He then heard coughing, and saw Patricia crawling over to him. Slowly putting his dad's still form down on the floor, he races over to her," don't move baby," he said as he pick her up a bit from the ground. When he felt a warm liquid in his hand, he pulled it up to his face to see blood._

"_Hehehe, don't look like that, I don't want to go with out seeing your smile," she said as she with weak smile, she then started to cough up blood from her mouth._

"_Don't talk! You need you're energy, we'll…we'll, get a doctor…some…somehow," he then started to dig in his pocket for his cell phone. When he got it out, he was about to call 911, but her hand stopped him._

"_Don't, you know that I won't make it," she then stared into his eye with all the love she could. With all the energy she had in her arms, she reached up to his face and pulled him down to her face. They both start to kiss each other for all the love they had for each other._

_Taiho started to cry while he was kissing, he knew that she was right. He knew his dad was already dead. He just couldn't take it and started to cry even more. Once they pulled away from each other, he looked upon her eyes once more," I love you, Patricia."_

_With the last of her energy, she spoke her final words to him and cupped her hands on his cheek," I love…you…too…Tai…ho," she said as her eye dulled and her hand fell to the ground lifelessly. He knew this what that meant and cried even harder._

_He then looked up to the sky and sucked in a big breath," AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH," he screamed with all his feelings put into it as the area was still in an inferno due to the blown up car._

_A few months passed after the incident and Christmas came. Taiho was still in depression of losing his dad and girlfriend. He just kept thinking 'if only I had done something sooner', 'if I was just quicker', or 'If I just did something different, none of that would have happened'._

"_Taiho, honey," his mom called out as she knocked on his door. She too was depressed about her husband's death, but she was now starting to cope with it. But she was starting get worried if Taiho might just stay in depression," honey, please come out, I've got a present for you," she called out as she held a box in her hand. Seeing that he wasn't going to do anything, she gripped on the door knob," I'm coming in, okay?"_

_She then went in and wasn't shocked at what she saw. The room was a complete mess as clothes were laying about on almost everything, items were thrown around and broken, and the room was starting to smell a bit._

_She also wasn't surprised by his state; he looked like someone had taken his sight away as his eye only stared off into space, only blinking every now and again. His beard had grown all the way out and covered almost his entire bottom face. The clothes he had on were the ones he had on for at least two weeks._

_He turned his head a bit to his mom and saw that she had something in her hand, but he didn't care, he was too lost in his thought to care about anything now. He then saw her walk over to the side of his bed and sit next to him. As some long moments passed, he finally had enough of the silence," what is you want mom?" he said in a dry and hoarse tone. It hurt to talk, but it didn't matter to him._

"_I came to give your present honey, you do know it's Christmas now, right?" she said with a sad smile._

_He felt a little surprise,' has time gone by that quick,' he then hung his head down further,' will time continue to go on like this, me being like this and my mom constantly worrying about me,' he thought sadly. He then started to remember his dad's and Patricia's smiles, which mad him sadder. But then started to think more,' would they want me to go on like this? To continue remembering them in such a manner?" he then looked over to his mom,' no, they wouldn't.'_

_He then forced a smile on his face," thanks mom," she was a bit taken back by his smile, but she welcomed it, anything was better than him being depressed any longer," so, what did you get me?"_

_She then handed the box to him and motioned him to open it. Once he opened his, his mouth was hung open," I thought it would be nice for you to have and seeing as how you were, I think you need something that will give you at least some faith," she said as he pulled out a glinting silver chain necklace with a expansive looking cross on it._

_He then put on and went up to the mirror," thanks mom," he then turn around and gave her a hug. After awhile he started to cry a bit," I'm going to do my best to carry on dad's work," he then pulled away from her and looked right in her eyes," I'm going to go to college and get a degree in what he was working in."_

_Seeing the look in his eyes, she gave her own hug to him," I know you will, because you are his son, and I know that Patricia would want you to continue on."_

'_Mom,' he thought to himself as the images went on with him going to college and going on with his life._

_END OF TAIHO'S FLASHBACK_

"Eeehh," Taiho then started to stir from being knocked out from his injuries. He then tried to get up, only to have someone push him back down.

"Now calm down, you've just regained consciousness. We don't want you to go and slip back in and get into an even worse condition," he opened his eyes to see Duero look at him.

"Hey, doc," he said in a weak voice," what's my prognosis?" he asked with a weak smirk.

"You're have a severe head trauma, a few cracked ribs, a broken left leg, and last, but not least, have a piece of the Paksis that was in the Gundam lodged into your right bicep," the doctor said in a serious tone. (I'm not that good at describing injuries, so this is the best I could do)

"Greeeaatt," he said in a sarcastic tone, he then remembered something," hey, doc, how's Meia doing?" he then saw the doctor's eye sadden a bit.

"She's worse then you I'm afraid, although, it's not physical injury that is worrying me," he then walked over to the monitor where he could still see," it seem a Paksis fragment lodged it self into a part of her brain and is having some strange affects on her."

Taiho frowned at this,' is she still in her memory trip,' he then looked over to her and saw an image of Patricia for a second. This made him come to a decision.

Duero then heard a crash behind him and saw that Taiho was trying to stand back up," what are you doing?! You need to get back and rest," he said as he went up to him and tried to force him to get back in bed.

"Doc," he then turned his attention to the young man he was trying to treat," please, just take me over to her side," he then looked right into his determined eyes," please," so he just sighed and nodded, as he got a seat and set it by her bedside.

"Meia," he said in quiet tone," don't leave us, we need you," he then started to reach out for her left hand with his right," I need you," he said under his breath. Once he touched her hand, the Paksis that was lodged in his right bicep glowed and her head started to glow a bit too. He wondered what this meant until he blacked out.

_"Don't hate you're Ohma, your Ohma is really quiet wonderful," Taiho was wondering where he was hearing this motherly voice, but he also felt he heard these lines before," she just a little unapproachable, but she's such an honest person who can't ignore those in need and she always gets the short end of the stick because of it. Yet these are the reasons I fell in love with your Ohma and that's why you were born. I'm sure you'll understand someday, when someone just as important to you shows up on your life."_

_He then heard a familiar voice and saw that it was Meia, but not exactly her, but her younger self from her memories," I don't need someone like that. Not if someone else gets hurt because of me," he then felt a sting of sadness when she said that._

"_Meia, falling in love with someone is a wonderful thing," he then looked from Meia and saw someone he assumed was her mother," you become strong, because there is someone to care for."_

"_Wrong! You become weak because of that!" she then sobbed harder and yelled out to her mother," don't you get it yet?! Don't you see whose fault it is that we feel this way?"_

_The mother seem breathed in and gave a sad sigh while Meia cried her heart out," I'm sorry, I shouldn't have involve her in this."_

_Meia gasped a bit and looked back to see her mother wasn't there,' I've always regretted those words I said, I wanted to apologize someday. But I can't do that anymore, no matter what I say, she'll never hear it.'_

"_OF COURSE SHE WILL," Meia then turned her head to him, which made her turn back to her original form._

"_Taiho, what are you doing here?" she asked in a quiet tone, but he continued as if he didn't hear her._

"_You're mother will hear your apology Meia," he then started to walk up to her. As he did, the scenery started to change into an open grassfeild," even if you don't get an answer from her, she'll hear, if you put enough of this into your apology," he said as he pointed his thumb to where his heart is._

"_How would you know? You haven't lost anybody like that important to you," she called out, but not out of anger, but of sadness._

"_You'd be surprise," he said, but just as he said that, his memories started to go by in front of both of them. She was surprised to see such a relationship between men and women. But what she got most surprised about was the incident that made him lose both his lover and father," you see, you're not the only one who has felt that kind of loss. Like you, I have always wanted to say or do something different, so that I could make that incident not happen. But ever since my mom got me out my depression, my friends started to help me overcome it. And like me, you too have friends that are willing to help you, I happen to be one of them. I don't want to see you end up like Patricia," he then started to shake a bit," don't make that selfish decision, don't make me relive that pain again."_

_Seeing that he felt the same she did, she went up to him and embraced him in a hug," I won't, not as long as your with me," she then looked up into his eyes. They just stayed there like that for what seemed to be ages._

"_Meia," he said quietly to her, as he leaned in closer to her face and started to close his eyes. She seemed to get the message and started to close in as well. Right when their lips were about to meet, a light came all around them._

Meia then started open her eyes as a glow around her started to fade. Once her eyes were fully open, she saw the crying faces of Parfet and Paiway," you came back," Parfet said.

"Taiho saved you," Paiway said while still crying a twin stream of tears out of her eyes.

She then breathed in a bit with a smile on her face," cut the racket you two," she then used her right hand to feel her face, but then she didn't feel her head piece and started to freak out a bit.

"Meia," she then turned her head to the man holding her hand," it's right here," Taiho said as he lifted her headpiece with his left hand and handed it to her.

"Thank you," she said with a smile on her face. They both looked at each other for a second before realizing that they were holding each others hand and that she was bare around her chest, so they both turned away with blushes on their faces.

After the good news spread around that their leaders were finally okay, everything went back to the way it was after the battle was done and now everyone was trying to get some sleep. Everyone except a few who were doing their needed jobs, or had something on their minds.

Taiho, against the doctor's requests, was now doing some light exercises to get the pain out of his body for a bit. When he worked up a good sweat, he collapsed against a tree in the garden area.

A little bit later, Meia walked around trying to sort out her feelings on what might have happened in her mind and what she was starting to feel around Taiho. When she got to the Garden area, she saw him knocked out on a tree," they all did their best out there," she then saw he captain walking up to her.

"Oh, it's you captain," she said as she greeted her presence.

"It's quite ironic to find someone like you, but he seems to be more in tune with his feeling than you do," she said as she covered Taiho in a blanket," and because of that, him and that boy have won everyone's hearts and right underneath our noses at that. And as I can see, you and him are very much alike, you and this man here. The only thing stopping the two of you is if you two can express your feelings for each other."

"Captain…" she said quietly.

"Meia, isn't it time you found some forgiveness, for yourself that is?" the old lady asked as she smile at her.

Taken back a bit by this, she gazes down upon the man who stood by her bedside when she was injured," I think I already have," she said with a small smile.

**A/N: **Ch.5, done. Well, I hope I made the scenes good and I hope the memories I have shown of Taiho were a bit enlightening. As for Meia witnessing Taiho's memories, don't worry, it doesn't mean she knows it's another dimension or earth for that matter. Everyone on the ship believes his story about the planet he comes from, which he made up of course. Anything else than that, just post on the reviews, ja ne.

ShadowDragonGX


	6. SORTING OUT THINGS

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Vandread or any of the Gundam series, but like I've always said, I do own my OCs and their mechs.

SORTING OUT THINGS

After the incident with Meia, Taiho has been training himself physically and mentally to get more control of the future data that the ZERO system creates within his mind. He knew that he should not have activated the system in such a manner, but he was just so enraged by Meia's condition, that he could not think straight and so now he was going through the katas his mother taught him. The reason for this was to clear his mind of any negative thoughts and have a clear state of mind, or as the characters of G Gundam called it, as serene state of mind.

'I must have no negative emotions,' he thought as he went through the slow movement of his kata and breathed in and out slowly,' I must have no ill thoughts, must have total control of mentality,' he then neared the end of his kata when he felt someone watching him.

"You can come out now," he said out loud to the garden area around him, as he had his eyes closed.

"How'd you know I was here?" a feminine voice asked, as the person came out to reveal Meia with a confused look on her face," and what are you doing?" she asked with a little blush, as she looked at his half naked form. He only had his training sweats pants on at the moment and was giving off a shine with his body being drenched in his own sweat.

As he ended his kata, he opened his eyes and turned to her with a smile on his face," I was training to clear my mind, I need to have a clear mind in order to handle all the future data I receive from the Dark Angel Gundam's ZERO system."

"Why do you need a clear mind?" she asked as she focused her attention on his face, so as not to feel too weird staring at his sweating body.

Taiho then went over to where his towel was hanging off a branch and took it to wiped the sweat off his forehead," because in order to handle such a fast amount of data, I need to have a clear mind, so that my mentality doesn't go on the brink of insanity," Taiho then paused for a moment to think, he then turned his head to Meia and gave her a big smile," how about you join me in my practices? I sure could use the company and I know that you get stressed at a lot of moment's leader. Trust me, it is very relaxing to do this."

She seemed to think on this for a bit,' well, I do need to do other things other than just checking on the Dread formations. Then there is that fact that I am feeling stressed from all the work from today,' not that she'll also admit that she also wants to explore where her feelings are going with her second in command. After being done with her thoughts, she looks to him and gives a small smile," sure, I could use something else to relieve my stress," she pauses a bit and looks a bit nervous, which made Taiho feel she was getting out of character," well…do you have time now to teach me on how to do it?"

Looking a bit surprised, he gives back his own smile and nods," sure, now come over here and stand next to me," she nods and goes up right beside him," okay, follow my movements carefully, and breathe deeps breaths, slowly, but not…." And so it went on for like this for at least three hours. Her trying to follow the best ways in mimicking his almost flawless movements in his katas, and she felt relaxed and relieved through the whole process.

'Wow, this does feel good,' she thought as she followed his movements in almost perfectly,' it's really calming my nerves.'

"Meia," she then turns her head to him for bit, as he paused in his movement," do not think of anything, clear your mind of any negative thoughts," he then turned his head a bit to her, as he had his eyes closed to her," this kata not only require subtle breathing and movement, but also no distraction of the mind," he then set his head straight ahead," now let us continue," as she heard this, she nodded and took in his words wisely.

After another hour went by, they both felt they had enough and relaxed near the water stream that was in the garden," you did good Meia, you have some potential for the art," Taiho said as he leaned back on the ground and looked at the stars that were over their heads.

"The art?" she asked as she was confused by the term.

"Yes, the art, or for better words, Martial arts," he then turned his head a bit to her," I could feel you had already had gotten a grasp of the kata we did earlier. A martial artist adapts to any situation, whether it be in combat, or even a simple conversation, a martial artist will adapt and help the situation to become better." (This is just what I think really, but if a true martial artist sees this, but that's just me.)

She then hugs her knees and looks at the stream of water going by with a small smile," thank you the compliment Taiho," she said as she blushed a bit.

"No need for a thanks, I'm just stating the facts," he said as she waved her thanks off. Once a few moments pass, he gets up and pats himself off," well, I think its time we go and get back to work," he then turns to go put his clothes back on," I'll see you in the simulation room."

She too gets up and runs up to his side," why? I didn't hear anything about any simulations, and I'm the one who makes them up," she asks as she lifts an eyebrow to him.

"Well, this was the reason for doing what we did earlier," the Gundam then sees the confused look on her face," well, me and Parfet have made a replica of the ZERO system and had it linked up the customized sim pod that has the same functionality as my cockpit. Hopefully, the replica is just as powerful as the original itself."

"I see, well, I hope you can control it," she then puts her hand on his shoulder," I don't want my second in command to be incapacitated because of some simulation," she then takes her hand off and walks ahead without looking back to him," I'll see you over there."

"Okay," he says as he goes off in the bushes to get his original clothes back on. When he was done, he makes his way over to the sim room. He then passes the Vanguard hangar to see Dita coming out," Dita, what are doing here?"

"Oh, Mr. Angel, you haven't seen Mr. Alien around lately have you?" she asks as she held her self made pillow behind her back.

"No, I haven't," he then looked at the pillow she was holding," were you going to give that to him?" he asked as he pointed at it.

She then got a really cheery look on her," yeah, isn't it cute. I think Mr. Alien would like it."

"I'm sure he will," he said as he went past to go into the hangar," well, I'll see you later Dita," he then waved at her, to which she returned back to him and went back on her search for the short man.

Taiho went in the hangar to see how Hibiki was doing, because he knew that he was in here, he was just hiding from Dita because of she would always, as Hibiki would put it, be annoying when she was around. Just as he was about to call out his name, he hears someone fall down and say something about annoying people.

'Yup, that's him alright,' he thought as he went up the stair and look into Hibiki's Vanguard cockpit. He sees the navy haired short man upside down in it while rubbing his bruised head," have nice fall, Hibiki?" Taiho said as he joked a little.

"Ha ha, you're very funny sensei," he replied as he got out of the cockpit while still rubbing his head injury," man, why does that girl have to be so annoying?" he asked his sensei.

Faking a thoughtful look, he took a few seconds before he spoke," don't know, but I'm guessing she feels something for you to be with you so much," he said as he lied through his teeth.

"Well it's really getting annoying and I don't know how long it's going to be before I snap," Hibiki said as he walked off to put away his tools in his room.

'Sigh, I wonder if I should intervene in this situation. I mean, it really turned real bad for the two during the episode, but in the end, it only made their relationship more stronger,' this time Taiho really started to think,' maybe I can help strengthen it further by giving advice to them both, although I know I'm no expert matchmaker,' he then started to think on other things as well,' well, since I'm trying to hook those two up, I mind as well hookup the other two guys. I don't need to worry about Deuro and Parfet, but Bart is the one who definitely needs help. I mean, he thinks of BC as his first girl, when actually she's a guy. So who should I hook him up with, hmmm,' he then snapped fingers a it hit him on who he should hook the ship's helmsman with,' she should be suitable for him and she is just as hot as any other girl on this ship,' with that, he went back on his way to the sim room, while planning on how to strengthen the bonds of the other males on the ship.

When he got there, he saw Parfet working on fine-tuning the recently made simulation cockpit that resembled the arcade game that was in G Gundam. (The one arcade game that Domon and Alenby fought in when they met for the first time) Along with Parfet were Gascogne, who seemed to be content on wanting to watch what happens, and Meia, who he knew wanted to see if he was going to be okay after using the replica ZERO system.

"Hey girls, how's the simulation cockpit and the replica ZERO system coming along?" he asked as he got all three of their attentions.

"I've just now finished on the system, it's ready anytime you are sub-leader," Parfet said as she wiped the sweat on her forehead.

"It took quite sometime to assemble and connect the parts, you better appreciate what we have both done," Gascogne said as she had her trademark smirk on with the little stick hanging out her mouth.

"You better take it easy on this one, I remember the report I got after last battle and it said you could hardly control the data," Meia said as she got her stoic face on.

"Don't worry Meia," he said as he walked past her and patted on her shoulder as he did," as long as I have something to comeback to, I have nothing to fear," he said with a smile as he went in the simulation cockpit.

When he said that as long as he something to come back to, she started to think on what he meant by that," Meia," she was interrupted from thinking any further as a hand came up on her shoulder. She looked to see Gascogne smirking at her," what has you so out of focus, you seem to thinking about something," her smirk grew wider at that moment," or is it someone?"

Looking away from her with a little blush, she composes herself and speaks," I don't know what you're talking about, I'm just trying to figure out what new formations we should make for our pilots."

'Sure, you say that, but do you honestly believe I'm that blind,' she thought as she looked at her and then to the man who was setting the equipment on his body to train on using the dangerous system,' you two should at least voice your thoughts, but I guess that still a little to soon to do so.'

"Taiho, are you ready?" Parfet asked through the communicator.

"Yeah, I'm good to go," he then settle into a relaxed stance," when I give the signal, activate the system."

"Alright," she said, as she got ready to push the button to start the system.

He then started to go through his kata that he did earlier, while doing all he could to clear his mind of any negative thoughts,' I must flow like water, move as graceful as wind, feel the earth and metal of the ship I'm in, and release the fire that is within my soul,' he thought as he moved slowly and gracefully through the kata with his eyes closed.

Gascogne and Parfet were watching the movements with fascination; they didn't know how such movements could be so…peaceful. It really did interest them on how he felt at the moment, but they were answered as they caught sight of his calm, peaceful face.

"Parfet," Taiho said in a serene tone, which snapped her from her thoughts and waited for him to continue," activate the system now and start the combat simulation."

"Uh, right," she then pressed the button and saw the sim cockpt glow a bright yellow. As she saw that, she downloaded the combat simulation within the cockpit.

When Taiho felt the data going through his mind, he thought of something,' it's weird, it's so much different from when I first activated it, maybe I was right about having to have a serene state of mind first,' he then opened his eyes as the battle simulation started.

As Taiho started to take down the enemies, Parfet, Meia, and Gascogne were watching a video of him in his cockpit to watch his status. They saw him take out enemies left and right with great precision and speed. They found it weird though that he was doing this while his hair seemed to be blocking his view, since he didn't have time to clean up and comb it back up.

"Hey Parfet," the tech geek looked over to Meia to see what she wanted," could you get a close up on his face, there's something that's bothering me," she nodded and started to zoom in on his face. When they got close enough, they gasped at what they saw.

His eyes, they were glowing with a light the emitted like the Paksis, yet they were dulled at the same time. They wondered if this was a side effect of having a piece of the Paksis that was stuck in his right bicep and having the system activated at the same time. (yup, I just now made him get SEED mode)

"I gotta say, those eyes look cool, but kinda creep too," Gascogne commented, to which she received nods from the other two.

Within the simulations, Taiho just finished off a cube Harvester by doing the Erupting Burning Finger technique. Right when he was about to take down more by using his shoulder gatling guns, long range beam rifle, and hand rifle all at once, but then he felt his vision go blurry for at that moment,' what the?! What is this?'

'Ah, I see the Guardian Spirit Dragon of the East is starting awaken within you,' a voice said to him as the scenery in front of his eyes changed.

"Who's there?" he asked as he looked around the scenery around him. It seemed to be forest with high cliffs and waterfalls," hello?" he asked out loud as he looked left and right.

"Where are you looking kid, I'm up here," Taiho then looked up on a cliff near by to see a shadowed figure," right up here," when the sunlight slowly showed who it was, Taiho couldn't believe who he was looking at.

"You're…," he just couldn't speak as he looked at the raven haired man. This man had a red headband, red cloak with a ivory jacket and long green sleeved shirt under it, along with crimson fingerless gloves. He had black pants and brown boots on. He also had a cross shaped scar on his right cheek," Domon Kashu, the King of Hearts," he finally voice.

"I see that you know who I am," he said as he had a smirk on his face. He then hardened his eyes at him," now let's see what kind of martial artist you are," he said as he took off his headband and threw at him.

"Huh?" was all Taiho could say as he caught it, but then dreaded as he started to see the stance he was taking,' he honestly doesn't believe I can do _that_ with him, does he?!' he thought frantically as Domon landed in front of him.

"The school of the Undefeated of the East," he called out as he put his fist out in front of him. Taiho was now getting panicked and did the only thing he could do…go with the flow of it.

He then took the headband and tied it around his head quickly and got in a low stance," the wind's of king," he too called.

"Zenshin," Domon said as he sent a flurry of fast punches at Taiho.

"Keiretsu," Taiho said as he blocked as many punches as he could, but almost half of them got through.

"TEMPAKUIREN," they both called out as they continued with the flying fists. Once that was done, they met with one last punch in a low stance," LOOK, THE EAST BURNING RED," they said at the same time, as it looked like a sea of flames erupted in the background around them.

After a little stare down with their fist locked onto each other, they both slowly backed off," you still need some training, but I can see why the Guardian Spirit Dragon of the East resides within you," Domon said as he turned his back to him and started to walk off.

"Wait, Domon," Taiho called out only to stop as the punches he received from the King of Hearts were now starting kick in.

"We will meet again someday, Taiho Lobo, Guardian Spirit Dragon of the East," Domon said as he disappeared, along with the scenery.

"Taiho, you okay in there? HEY," a voice called out to him. Taiho looked up to see the worried looks of Gascogne, Parfet and Meia," are you okay?" Meia asked one more time.

"Uh, yeah," he then looked down a bit," I'm…I'm just fine," he then started to think back on what happened,' what was that just now? Was it dream, a hallucination caused by the ZERO system, or was it a vision of some sort,' he then caught sight of the red cloth in his right hand,' huh?' he then was shocked to see what it was,' now this is just getting too weird, how the hell do I have Domon's headband with me?' he just sighed bit, as it felt he was just going to get a headache if he kept asking himself these questions. He then pocketed the headband in his pocket.

'His eyes are back to normal, but what is it that is bothering him now,' Meia thought as she looked at him through the vid screen,' he took down the enemies in the simulation with no problems, but during the last part of it, it seemed as if he wasn't even thinking about them as simulations enemies, but as actual enemies,' she thought as she remembered the last parts of it.

"Come on Taiho, now that you're done, we need to start thinking about making formations for our pilots," Meia said as she spoke through the communicator.

"Uh, yeah, sure, I'll be on my way," he replied back as he started to get out of the simulation cockpit.

"Looks like the test was a success then, I guess we don't have to worry about him and the ZERO system as long as he keeps up his training," Parfet said to Gascogne.

"Yeah, let's just hope that he keeps up the good work," said as she walked out and started her way back to 'Reg Central'.

"Are you okay," Meia asks as they both walked alongside each other down the hall, on the way to where they could make the formations in privacy.

"Yeah, it's just the mental stress getting to me," he then got a big smile on his face," don't worry, as long as I keep up my training, I'll be able to master the ZERO system in no time flat."

"Getting cocky are we?" she asked with a bit a humor in her voice.

He just shrugs with a smirk on his face," no need to be when I know I can master it, but let's get going, we got some brainstorming to do," he said as they both got into the room to start thinking up of some formations for the pilots.

A few minutes pass when all of a sudden the door opens. They both look over to see who it was and saw it was Dita, with a sad look on her face," DITA?" they both asked in unison.

"Oh, hi Mr. Angel, Meia," she greeted them in a sad tone.

"Looks like something is wrong," he whispered to Meia," and I think it has something to do with Hibiki," she then turned her head to him to see what he meant, but he just got up to leave," you deal with her while I see what it is that might've upset her."

"Right," Meia replied, as she knew he was right about the situation, plus she felt she might need some privacy with her subordinate.

As Meia listened to how Hibiki treated her earlier, Meia didn't know how to react as she too was new to reacting around men,"…and then he said I was in his way and told me to get out of his room. I mean I was only trying to make Mr. Alien happy, but all I do is make him mad."

Finally getting the chance to speak up, she voiced what she thought," Dita, I'm…not so good with words and I don't know if I should encourage your curiosity," she said as she started to remember back when she was injured, when Taiho was in her mind as they both started their bond there and almost kissed,' even I don't know if I should continue what I'm trying to do,' she thought to herself," but…"

"But what?" she asked.

"I don't believe it is right to force yourself into someone else's heart," she answered truthfully.

"I guess…that's true," she said sadly, she then got up to let off some steam in the garden.

With Taiho, he found the short guy discarding the decoration Dita made to his room," what seems to be the problem?" Taiho asked as he saw Hibiki throw out an alien decorated wind chimer.

"That dumb girl decided to decorate my room without my permission, I swear it gets annoying when does things like this," he said as he dusted off his hands.

"You know, it could be that she's just doing her best to be nice to you," Taiho said in a bored tone.

"Well, it's getting annoying," he said stubbornly.

"I swear man, you need to lighten up," he said as he turned his back to him and go back to Meia," you know, you might try to understand how she feels. Right now, she feels like dirt because you threw her out and said she was in the way."

"What?" He asked in a little bit of surprise,' all I did was kick her out and say that she was in the way of me taking out the stuff she put in…,' the realization dawned him that he was being a little cruel to the bubbly red-head.

"Yeah, If I were you, I'd try to make it up a little to her," they both then hear an announcement to get to a strategy meeting," well, it looks like we'll need to put those affairs on hold, we need to get to that meeting," he then walked out with a little saddened Hibiki right behind him.

"Sorry we're late, Meia," Taiho said in a chipper voice as he entered the room with Hibiki.

"No need for apologies, just don't let it happen again," she replied as she got a nod from the both of them. Hibiki went over to one of the back seats and sat down, as he tried to think of a way to say sorry to Dita.

"Where's Dita?" Jura asked the two of them.

"She'll be along shortly, we just need to be a bit patient," Taiho answers as he stood by Meia's side.

Not a moment later, Dita came in the room with a sad look on her face," I'm sorry I'm so late," she said to them. She then went over to one of the front seats, furthest from Hibiki.

'Did I really hurt her feelings that bad?' Hibiki thought as he felt sad himself for being responsible.

Taking a silent breath, Meia gets a serious face on," alright, everyone is here now. I will now explain the simulation we'll be running today. We'll be using the formation we get when Taiho and Barnette combine to make the Gundam Epyon, and the formation we get when Dita combines with…," but she was cut off by a soft voice.

"Forget it," Dita said, as everyone turned their attention to her," forget that, because I won't be combining with him anymore."

Everyone, except Taiho, is shocked by this, especially Hibiki,' she can't be that hurt, can she?' Hibiki thought as he looked at her.

"Aha, now I get it," Jura said in a playful voice and started to wag her index finger," you've started to get bored with Mr. Alien, haven't you?"

Dita just shook her head at the question," I realize, that Mr. Alien isn't happy with me. So, from now on," she then turned her head to the blond," you can combine with him Jura," which make Jura get a weird look on her face, while Hibiki was starting to get a little panicked about the situation.

"Dita," Meia voice barked out in a command, which gets the red-head's attention," I will now tolerate the mixing of private matters in this room. This is not a game we're playing," she said in calm, but commanding voice.

"I'm…I'm sorry," she said as she looked down to the floor.

They all then go out to get their pilot training done. Once out there, Taiho could tell the two were in a sad mood. Once they started to sound off, it was clear the Dita was the most depressed, seeing as how Meia had to call out her name a few time to get her attention.

Once it was done, everyone went to get some lunch. Once he gets to the mess hall, he sees Jura conspiring to use the situation to her advantage,' I know this is hardly the time, but I guess it's as good as time as any,' he thought as he sneaked behind Barnette, so the two don't know he's coming.

"Hey, think this is my big chance?" he heard her say to Barnette, which made the best friend go at a loss for words for a bit.

She was about to laugh maniacally until a voice a interrupted her," chance for what?" Taiho asked as they both jumped from where he was standing," you're not trying to conspire against my student are you?" he asked with a little smirk.

"No, nothing like that, hmmm, have thought about us combining dear?" she asked in a sexy voice.

"Not really," he said truthfully," but if you want to combine with my student's machine, why don't you talk to Bart?"

"Bart?" Jura and Barnette asked in confusion.

"Yeah, him and Hibiki are good friends, if you get in good with him, I'm sure Hibiki will start to trust you enough that he'll want to combine with you," he said with a sly smile on his face.

Once the info got in her head, she got a big smile on her face," I think I'm going to have a little chat with someone," she said as she laughed and went off to talk to a certain blond male.

"You did that just to get her off yours and Hibiki's case, didn't you?" Barnette asked with tired look on her face.

"Eh, at least it served its purpose," Taiho then cocked his head to the side," you're not going to catch up with her?"

"Naw, she's digging her own grave on this one," she said calmly to her sub-leader.

'Well, that's surprising. I would think she would go with her without any hesitation,' he felt he should worry about this, but shrugged,' whatever will be, will be,' he thought as he got a plate of food," wanna join me along with Meia to eat?"

"Sure, I could at least use some company after this," she answered with a smile.

Once they both got to the table, they were greeted by Meia and Dita," hello there Taiho, Barnette," Meia greeted as Dita just nodded to them.

"Hey, mind if we take a seat here?" Barnette asked, to which she got an answer as they shook their heads to them. Taiho sat beside Meia, while Barnette sat beside Dita.

Once some moments pass, Meia notices something, along with both Taiho and Barnette," aren't you going to eat?" Meia asked as she took a quick glance at the untouched food in front of the redhead.

"I've decided I'm going to change myself, because I know it's bad with the way I am now," she then caught a glimpse at the corner of her eye and caught Hibiki looking at her, but he just went back to eating quickly as if nothing happened.

'If I remember correctly, this is where things turn ugly,' Taiho thought as he started to remember the how the episode went,' should I let it happen, or should I say something that may strengthen their bond?' he then took on last look at the two," well, I'm done, I need to go and get something done," he then got up and started to walk towards the door," see you girls later," he said over his shoulder as he went to go talk to Hibiki.

"You're lonely aren't you?" Taiho heard as he started get near Hibiki's room, he assumed it was Pyoro who was talking about Hibiki's and Dita's relationship.

Hibiki made a little flinch, but was about to chew off the little robot's head for thinking such a thing until he saw a shadow being cast into the room. He looked to see it was Taiho," oh, hi sensei."

"Hey, how's it going?" he asked in a casual tone.

"Just fine," he answered, but anyone could feel the depression in his voice.

Taiho just made a big heavy sigh," you're worried about Dita, aren't you?"

Getting a bit of a blush in his face, he yells out to his sensei," what the hell are you talking about? Why would I be worried about that annoying woman?"

"Look Hibiki, you know that I come from a planet made of both men and women, I've seen the kind of look between people who are close to another person, the ones who felt hurt because of what they did or said," unbeknownst to the both of them, Dita was listening in on the conversation.

"What you do you mean?" the short man asked, in a mix of depression, confusion, and anger.

"I mean that you should at least try to talk to her about what is bothering her. If this continues, it is likely we'll all be killed because you two couldn't resolve your feeling for each other, and don't deny that you don't feel at least little something for her," Taiho said as he turned his back to walk out the door. Dita quickly got out of there before he walked out the door, who left a short man who was thinking on what to do.

Taiho started to walk around the ship, wondering just what he should do now. When he goes around the corner, he sees both Jura and Bart deep in conversation.

"I just wish one of those two would combine with to make something elegant, is that so much to ask?" Jura asked as she rearranged her hair a bit as they both walk alongside each other.

"Not really, but from what I've seen, you come on too hard, which makes them back off from your offers," Bart answered as he felt good talking like this to another women, without the worries of being killed by them of course.

"So your saying that I should lighten up, but they won't give in unless I keep it up," she said as she looked at him with a stern face.

"I'm not saying to give up, I'm just saying…" that little conversation went on as they both turned around a corner.

'Well, I guess those two are off to a good start,' he felt a little accomplishment with himself for being able to direct a man to be staying straight as an arrow,' maybe after all this is done, they may already be with each other by then,' he thought as he continued to walk on.

As he started to walk around, he came upon the garden,' well, a little workout wouldn't be too bad right now…huh?' he was about to start himself on one of his katas, but then he heard something near by," come on out Meia."

"You always seem to know I'm here, how is that?" she asked as she came into, with a very confused look on her face.

"Just a feeling, I'm sure you know what it is," he said as he looked straight into her eye, not caring that she was blushing with him staring at her with warm eyes.

"Umm, Taiho, about that time when I was injured, I just want to say…" but she was cut off as BC called out for all the pilots to go into combat. They both look at each other and nodded as they went to the hangar.

Once everyone got outside, they saw a battalion of Harvester ships and enemies," well, it looks like we'll be having some fun for while, huh?" Taiho said with a bit of sarcasm.

"Indeed," she replied with an equal amount of sarcasm. But they both hear a conversation over the communicator that caught their attention.

"Hey, annoying girl," Hibiki called out through vid screen that popped up in Dita's cockpit," let me just tell one thing right now, I'm…I'm…"

Seeing the flushed on look on his face, she couldn't help but think it look cute on him," what, what is it?" she asked as she too got a blush on her face.

"I'm sorry, just keep on being the person you are, okay?" he said in strained voice,' that was really hard sensei, you know that?' but he felt something that calmed him down,' but it's weird, I feel like a whole lot of weight is off my shoulders, maybe she isn't so bad after all.'

Being overjoyed at his apology and question, she nodded and with a happy look on her face," sure," she answered cheerfully.

"Well, now that situation is settle," Hibiki said as she grinned and turned back to the enemy," LET'S GO," he called out as both him and Dita combine their mech to make Vandread Dita and blast off towards the enemy.

"Things may turn out for the better after all for those two, right Meia?" Taiho asked as he watched the two of them fight the enemy with renewed happiness.

"Yeah," she answered him,' I wonder how it would feel like to be around someone you cherish like that?' she thought, but was answered as she remembered on how she almost kissed Taiho in her mindscape,' I guess that answers my question.'

Taiho though, was now thinking back on the day's events and one particular future event,' why did I have a vision of Domon from G Gundam? Is the Paksis trying to get me prepared? If so, what for?' he knew he wouldn't get answers to these questions and settled on the one event that he knew would happen,' I guess it's time I prepare for Rabat's appearance…just wait old man, you'll see that Hibiki is different from before, of that you can count on.'

**A/N:** well, that's CH.6 for ya guys. I just want to let you guys know that reason I chose to put Domon from G Gundam on here is because he's a martial artist, as Taiho is a martial artist as well. What I mean is that Taiho can only get stronger with his help, on how he'll get that help, you'll just have to see. As for the Guardian Spirit, well, that too will be surprise. If you need to know anything else, post it on the reviews, ja ne.

ShadowDragonGX


	7. TO BECOME STRONGER

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Vandread or any of the Gundam series, but like always, I own OCs and their mechs.

TO BECOME STRONGER

Taiho was now sleeping after a hard day of training on controlling the ZERO system and making up new formations for the pilots with Meia,' man, this life sure takes a lot out of me, but…' his thoughts then started to lean towards a certain blue haired woman who he had taken most of his time with,' I guess it beats being at home,' he thought as a smile crept upon his sleeping face.

"You don't have time to relax in your sleep, Taiho Lobo," A familiar voice called out to him.

"Huh??" was Taiho's reply as his eyes shot open to see he wasn't in his room on the Nirvana," how the did I get here?" he asked himself as he looked at the scenery from a cliff. The scenery itself looked real familiar to him," where have I seen this?"

"These are the Guyana Highlands," the Gundam pilot then turned his head to the voice behind him, to reveal none other than Domon Kashu, the King of Hearts himself," we meet again," he said casually.

After hanging his mouth open with wide eyes for a moment, Taiho composed himself and stood up from his position. He then gave a serious look to Domon," alright, I want answers. Why are you here? What did you mean by awakening, and what's with that title you gave me?"

"I'm here because both your Gundam and your soul have called my spirit to help you in preparing for a coming evil within this universe. This evil is one you have seen before, but I won't tell you what it is, as I am bound by a sort of law not to disclose that information," Domon said as he leaned back on a tree.

"And? You still haven't answered my other questions," Taiho said as he sat crossed legged in front of the King of Hearts,' I should have known the Gundam itself had some consciousness in it, considering it has the ZERO system and other components.'

"What I meant by awakening and the title is that exactly, now that you have gone into training your spirit and mentality, you are starting to unlock a powerful spirit within you. You are the Guardian Spirit Dragon of the East. Along with you are the Tiger of the West, the Phoenix of the south, the Tortoise of the North, and the Kirin (Chimera or Giraffe) of the Central," he said as he got up from his position and stood over the Gundam pilot.

Taiho then got up himself and prepared himself for anything unexpected from him,' I know I shouldn't be wary of him, but when he did the whole 'Undeafeted of the East school' thing, well, I just don't want to take any chances,' he thought as he stayed in a relaxed position.

When Domon reached for something in his cloak, Taiho got into a quick defensive stance. What he pulled out was…a headband," I lost my last headband because I gave you my last one," he said as he as he tightened the red headband around his head," now then," he then slid into a offensive stance," it's time your training began."

"What?!" he asked, only to be answered by a punch to the face. Getting his senses back, he retaliated back at the King of Hearts.

This seemed to go on for at least four hours. When we look back, Domon just gave a hard hook that sent Taiho skidding on the forest floor dirt. Once Taiho stopped, he charged back in with his own hook, Domon saw this and went for the block, only to get kneed in the gut. Taiho then followed up by side kicking him with his other leg and sent Domon falling over. Taiho saw this as an opportunity and jumped right in the air, with his both his feet aiming to crush the King of Hearts' torso. But once he got within range, Domon flipped himself up halfway to spring kick Taiho right in the gut himself. This made the Gundam pilot almost throw up. They were both continuing upward, and once Taiho got his senses back; he saw this as a chance to do a move. Once he got in position, he quickly lowered himself behind Domon's back. He then wrapped his leg around his torso and locked his head with his ankles and latched his lower torso with his arms. Domon tried to get out of the hold, but he could hardly do anything as they both start to fall fast toward the ground. When they hit the ground, Domon's head went straight into the earth and caused a big shockwave to occur.

Once the Gundam pilot saw that he wasn't moving, he slowly got back up and started to gather his breathing, but not long after that, Domon jumped right out of the ground. He then dusted himself off like the fight didn't even happen," good, you seem to be learning how to adept to the situations in battle more and more," the King of Hearts said as he turned his body to him," we will now begin on teaching you the techniques from the School of the Undefeated of the East."

"What? Are you serious, I'm going to learn how to do those techniques?" Taiho asked as he looked at him as he nodded," HELL YEA," he yelled,' and soon, if I master some of the technique, I may be able to do the Sekiha Tenkyoken technique,' he thought as he could only dream of doing such an incredible technique. But he then thought of something," hey, could I at least teach some of my friends what you teach me?"

"Sure, it would benefit you if you do so, seeing as how I won't be able to fight alongside you," Domon answered as he turned his back to him," until the next time you rest," he said as he faded out of view.

Taiho then slowly opened his eye from his sleep. As he started to wake up, he got a smile on his face," looks like things just got more interesting," he then got up and got dressed.

Once he got dressed, he went over to see how Parfet was coming along with what he requested the other day. Once he got there, he sees the tech girl getting busy with keeping up the maintenance on the Paksis," hey Parfet, did you complete what I requested?"

Parfet looked from what she was working on and got a big smile on her face," yeah, hold on, I'll be right back with it," she answered as she got up from her position. When she came back, she held a sword that was similar to the Dark Angel Gundam's sword," I basically did the electronics and security on it, Gascogne took care of the everything else on this sword."

Taiho took the sword from the tech girl's hands and tried to get a feel for its weight," hmm, it nice and light, yet big enough to do some damage," he then did some practice swings and was satisfied with the way it moved," you two sure know how to work together to make a good weapon," Taiho said as he strapped it on his back with the strap that was attached to it. He then heard a communication from the custom watch Parfet made for him," Taiho here, what's going on?"

Meia's face then appeared on his watch," we've found a mission where we will re-supply our goods; I've notified everyone of this. Meet us in the hangar as soon as you can," she then ended the communication without so much as a goodbye. Taiho just did as she said and got there as soon as possible. Once he got there, they all went to the mission.

"Hey, if you guys find any pretty clothes, they all mine, okay?" Jura asked over a communicator in a sweet tone. After everyone had got on board, they all went their separate ways to salvage whatever was on board the mission. Right now, Taiho, Hibiki, and Meia were seeing what they could get from the core of the mission.

"I'm surprised the captain remembered this space station," Dita said as she looked at the tall tower that was the core.

"This place isn't actually a space station, it's officially called a mission," Pyoro said as he corrected the bubbly redhead.

"Oh," she replied simply.

"Alright you two, cut the chitchat, we got our jobs to do here," Taiho said as he tried to see what they could get from the core. Meia seemed to nod at his comment.

"You two call this work, all your doing is looting the place," Pyoro said as he floated up a bit to look at them better.

"Consider this salvaging abandoned assets," Meia replied as she continued her work.

"You two should make you orders clearer," Pyoro said as he scratched his head a bit.

"You're so picky," Dita said as she pouted a bit to the tiny bot. But then a figure passed over the group, which only Taiho and Hibiki noticed at the moment. Hibiki looked to Taiho and nodded and let him go to investigate.

"Hold on a second," Pyoro said as he tried to catch up to the short navy haired man.

"Where'd it go?" He asked himself, as he looked left and right for the figure. They both then notice something jump off from a high bridge. Once the figure lands, it reveal the person to be…a monkey, one that smiles and chuckled a bit at them," what the hell is this thing?" Hibiki asked, as he had never seen a monkey before.

The monkey then jumped over Hibiki and grabbed onto Pyoro and started to lick the tiny white bot. Pyoro didn't like this and started to call out for help," knock it off Utan," a voice said behind Hibiki.

Hibiki turned around quickly to see a man in what seemed to be brown Indian like clothes. Hibiki was about to start asking if he was here to save him and the guys, but caught himself as he remembered a lesson from Taiho,' don't be too trusting of everyone you meet at first, that could lead to your own downfall,' once he remembered that, he gave got serious with the man in front of him," who are you?" he asked as he stepped up to him.

The man only scowled a bit as he quickly drew a gun and pointed it at point blank range at Hibiki, which stunned the navy haired man, because he didn't think this old man would be so fast at drawing a gun. This made him berate himself for another lesson Taiho taught him,' never underestimate your opponents, or they'll definitely get the upper hand on you,' he made a mental note to start doing some extra training to get those lessons back in his head.

The man in front of him then noticed something behind him, so he quickly went behind Hibiki and put him in an arm lock from behind. As he did, he pointed the gun to the woman who aimed a laser ring right at his head, who revealed to be Meia," you're a woman, huh?"

"So what if I am?" she asked in cold voice.

"It's my policy never to kill women," he said as he let go of Hibiki's arm, but still head the gun aimed at her. But then he heard the sound of a sword beside him, which was quickly under his chin, with the bladed side close to his throat," alright, looks like you've got me outnumbered, doesn't it?"

"You bet your ass pal," Taiho said as he held his new sword in place of his throat. He then turned to Jura and Barnette, who had just gotten there," Barnette, take the guys weapon away from him."

"Sir," she said in a professional tone as she went up and took the man's gun and leveled her own gun at him.

"I suppose you all are some kind of gang?" he asked as he stayed relaxed, which made Taiho a bit nervous.

"You could say that, but I like to think were more of the pirate types than some gang," Taiho answered as he pressed the button to activated the beam on his sword, which almost made the man flinch a bit from the heat it was giving off.

"Oh? I see," he replied casually.

'Wait, wasn't he supposed to insult Hibiki about being a guy,' he then took a quick glance at his student,' well, I can see why he didn't say it,' he thought at as he didn't take a good look at his students new build, which made him look more like a body builder than some stringy armed mechanic.

They all then heard a scream from behind them, only to be revealed that the monkey named Utan was licking Dita's leg. The guy just looked back and gestured if he could take care of the little problem. He got his answer as both Meia and Taiho nod for him to got and take care of it.

"Alright, that'll be enough out of you, Utan," he said as he picked the monkey up and had it released the redhead," your partner is in trouble over here if you haven't noticed and all you're doing is being useless," he said to the monkey as he put a hand on the clutched bot," now," he said as he threw Pyoro toward Meia, only to have Taiho take her down before it even hit her.

Barnette took quick action and was about to shoot him, but Utan jumped on her to stop her. Utan then used her as a springboard and jumped up to a higher platform, which made Barnette fall down from being used as a springboard. Jura though, tried to cut down the other male, but he just jumped back and rolled out of the way.

"You asshole, get back here," Taiho called out as he picked up his blade to give chase to him. But he stopped as the mission started to rumble a bit.

"What's going on?" Hibiki asked as the mission continued to shake from the attack. After getting the hint, they all started to run for their individual machines," this sucks, what the hell is going on now?"

"I guess pirates like us aren't really welcomed around here," Meia answered as they continued to run.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure pirates are welcomed anywhere in the universe nowadays," Taiho replied sarcastically, which earned him a glare from his superior and made him raise his hand in defense.

Once they got to the mechs, Barnette made a report," hurry, I've confirmed sightings of multiple targets."

"Okay guys, we need to take them all down before they reach the Nirvana," Taiho said as he readied his hand rifle.

"Right, just leave the big ones to me leaders," she then looked around for something," hey, where'd Mr. Alien go?"

Hibiki then came at that moment from the mission," Hibiki, you need to hurry up, we need to commence the attack now."

"Yeah, yeah, sure thing sensei," Hibiki replied as he readied his own battle-ax in his hand.

"Oh, hey Mr. Alien, let's combine," Dita said in a cheery tone as she waited for him to do so.

"Thanks, but no thanks," he said as he blasted off paste her to take down his own number of enemies.

"Aaawww, why not?" she asked in comically sad tone.

"Focus now, they're coming," Meia said as she tried to snap Dita from her conversation.

Taiho then blasted off himself as he started off by taking down a few of them by using the shoulder gatling guns. Once he took down some of them, he quickly shot down a few with his beam hand rifle. He then saw one coming up from behind on Meia," OH NO YOU DON'T," he called out as he cocked his long range beam rifle from his back and fired.

He hit his mark and got a thumbs up from Meia for watching her back, which he returned. He then noticed some were getting a little too close, so he pulled out the beam boomerangs from his shoulder and released them on the enemy. The boomerangs whirled around and took down the enemies quickly. As they come back, Taiho easily caught them and put them back in their place.

"Okay, time to get real close and personal," he said as he gripped the sword on his back and took it out, it then elongated as he flung it out. Once out, he puts it in front of him and bursts out his energy wings, he then slings the sword back as he leaves after images of himself behind to confuse the enemy.

He notices something at the corner of his eye,' huh?' but just as soon as he saw it, it was gone,' what was that? I know I'm not seeing things, so what was…' he was cut off as he saw Vandread Dita just took out the mission with its shoulder cannons and destroyed the remaining enemy forces. But then he saw some enemies go for Rabat's ship, but not soon after, Utan came out and went ammo crazy on all them and were destroyed not long after that.

During Utan's little attack, everyone went back on board the Nirvana and went to command deck to see what happened after that. Once it was done, the two ships opened communications with each other," what a shame, all those supplies gone to waste," Magno said to the man who appeared up on the screen with the name of Rabat to show who was talking.

"That's my line," Rabat said to her," my engine was damaged, because I was trying to be nice and help you ladies out. So what are you going to do about it?" he asked as if he were going to threaten them with something.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Magno snapped back at the Indian clothed man," we're pirates, and we never ask for help."

"Oh, is that so," he said in a mischievous voice as he pulled out Pyoro in front of them all," then I guess you won't mind leaving this guy behind?"

"Oh my, they've got Pyoro," Dita said as she covered her mouth in shock.

"Nice deduction Sherlock Holmes," Taiho said under his breath, so as not to let anyone else know what he said. He then turned to Meia who seemed to be mouthing something under breath,' did she just do that same thing I just did?' he asked himself in his thoughts, but just shrugged,' ah well, it's not like it matters.'

"I guess we have no choice, come on board," Magno said as she restrained a hard scowl at the man on the vid screen.

"Right, right, now that that's settle, I'll come up their and set up some business," he said as he gave them a thumbs up and turned off communications.

"Is this wise captain?" BC asked her, as she felt suspicious of this male that was coming on board.

"Pyoro is apart of our crew BC, and besides…if he tries anything, we'll just go and relieve him of all his worldly possessions," Magno answered her with a big smirk on her old face.

Once everyone was going to go and greet the jerk, Taiho stopped Meia," what is it Taiho?"

"I'm going to let you handle this, I need to go and see something on my Dark Angel Gundam," he answered as he gave off a serious face and tone.

"Why, what's wrong?" she asked as she knew he wouldn't be worrying over any minor details if he was telling her about it.

"I don't know, but keep to yourself for now, we may have more enemies than just the Harvesters," he said as he left a little stunned Meia.

Once he got into the hangar, he immediately went into his Gundam's cockpit,' okay, now let's see if I can get a recording of the battle from earlier,' he thought as he started to go through the Gundam camera systems,' ah there we are,' he said as he got into the camera recording system.

Once he started to got through the battle frame by frame, he saw a shadowed figure behind one of the meteors that were around the mission,' now let's see if we can get a close up on you my friend,' he said as he zoomed in on the figure and started to lighten the color on the monitor a bit,' wha-what the hell is that thing doing here?' asked himself as she saw a Gundam like head with a mouth that had fangs and a worm like body, all of it was almost completely green,' that's a Gundam head from G Gundam, if that thing is here, then that means…' he then slowly came to a realization to the second reason why Domon was training him,' that means, along with the Harvesters, is the…Dark Gundam.'

"This is bad," he said to himself,' I'll need to have Domon really train me hard to learn those technique, god knows we'll need them when we go up against the Dark Gundam,' he thought to himself, as he knew he shouldn't tell them about the Dark Gundam yet, it just wasn't the right time, since if he told them about the evil Gundam, he might have to tell them the truth about himself,' but I don't want to do that until the time is right.'

He then heard his stomach growl a bit," well, I guess I can't worry on an empty stomach," Taiho said as he got out of his cockpit and ran off to get some grub.

Once he started down the hall, he saw that Dita was leading Rabat towards the hangar,' oh this should be fun to watch,' he thought as not long after that, he saw Hibiki dash down towards the hall, in the same direction the other two went. Taiho followed the short navy man's example and sprinted towards the hangar.

When he got there, he hid behind a crate and watched the scene unfold," HEY, YOU GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER," Hibiki called out as he saw Rabat was about to forcefully kiss Dita.

"MR. ALIEN," she called out in worry.

"Shoot and just as it was getting good," he said to taunt the short man," you're a snotty boy, you know that?"

"Who you calling a boy? Is that one eye of yours working right?" he asked as he got ready for a scrap with this man,' good thing I trained with Taiho, even if this guy is skilled, I should give him a good run for his money,' Hibiki thought at that moment.

"It sure is," he said as he pointed to his left eye, but then lifted up the red glass like patch on his right eye to show a perfectly healthy eye," so is this one," he said as he mocked Hibiki.

"You," he said in a growling voice," it really makes me sick to my stomach to think someone like you is a man same as me. My sensei is more of a man than you, you asshole…now get the hell outta here," he called out as he raised his fist to him.

"And what if I don't wanna?" he asked in a mocking tone.

"Then I'll have to throw you out by force," Hibiki said as he settled into a loose stance.

Rabat gave a little glare to Hibiki at that moment," interesting," he said as he got down from the catwalk and stood in front of him.

Having enough of the wait, Hibiki charged in to take him down, only to get flashed by the eyepiece on Rabat and temporarily blind him. This was all Rabat needed to knee the short man in the gut. But what he didn't expect was the short man to take advantage of him being lifted off the ground to grab onto his head in a headlock and use his weight and force to bring his head crashing down into ground.

"Why you little brat," Rabat said as he got back up and kick Hibiki right in the face. But once again, Hibiki took in the pain and latched onto the leg and brought his elbow down on Rabat's kneecap. This made Rabat cry out in pain and hit Hibiki square in the jaw. As he got free, he stepped back a bit with a limp,' I didn't expect the runt to be this good, who the hell has been teaching this kid?' he asked himself as he himself got into a sort of boxer stance.

"What's the matter asshole? Your leg getting to ya," Hibiki said with a busted lip smirk on his face.

Ignoring the insult, he waited for the kid to make a move. Which he did as he charged in with his hand cocked back to deck him,' okay, time to really give this runt something to worry about,' he then pulled out a two little needles in each hand. Just as Hibiki closed in, Rabat came in quick and stuck the tiny needles in each of his arms as he weaved through his attacks, but was soon met with a kick to the face that made him skid a bit," I gotta admit, your good kid," he said as he wiped some blood from his mouth.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm still gonna…huh?" he asked himself as his arms felt numb and couldn't move," WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?"

"Nothing that should stop you from fighting, now where were we?" he said as he shot off towards the short man. The fight went for at least five minutes, but it was clear that Rabat was winning, due to his underhanded tactics.

Having to decided to she had enough of watching the man she liked getting beat, Dita yelled out," STOP."

Rabat pauses a bit, but smirks as he stood over Hibiki's beaten body. But the smirk didn't last as he got bit on the ankle from Hibiki," ahh, get off me you fucking brat," he then started to boot him off his ankle," GET OFF," he said as he gave one last hard boot to the face, which made Hibiki take a piece of cloth with him.

"Mr. Alien, are you okay?" Dita asked as she looked over his injured body.

"Get out of the way," Rabat said as he booted her away from him. He then slammed his foot down on Hibiki's face," you little punk," he then started to force his foot down harder on his face," I'm gonna finish you right no, ahhh," he was then hit by a metal object, right in the face.

As Rabat got back up, he saw Taiho, standing in the same position with his sword out. When he looked at the sword, he saw that he got hit by the flat end of it," that's enough, you've had your fight with my student, and I think that was enough for you to fight," he then turned his body towards Rabat with a hateful scowl on his face," but if you want a real challenge, come and fight me," he said as he plunged the sword into the metal floor and had both his hands over the end of the hilt.

"Right, whatever," he said as he got up, he then noticed the glares he was receiving from everyone that was in the room," right, I know when I'm not needed," he said as he went to leave in his ship.

"Mr. Alien," Dita said quietly to his unconscious body. She was then startled as Taiho picked him up and started to walk off. She was about to ask what he was doing, but he cut her off.

"When he wakes up, he's going to feel like crap. As his sensei, I have a duty to talk to him when the times are bad for him," he said as he walked off towards the garden, knowing that the Nirvana would not be able to catch up to Rabat's ship and loot it.

About half an hour later, Hibiki started to stir," Ah, you're finally waking up," Taiho said in a cheerful tone.

"Don't talk like that now sensei, please? I'm not in the mood right now," he said in a groggy voice.

After some moments of silence, Hibiki was about to say something, but Taiho cut him off," you probably wondering what you can do to become stronger right?" he looks to see him nod his bruised head," there are many things that can make a person truly strong Hibiki. You can become strong when you protect someone dear, have strong beliefs, a goal, and many others things. But do you know what they all have in common?"

"What, what do they have in common?" he asked in a dry and hurt voice.

"They are all something that one person can call on their own, to truly become strong, you must use what is yours instead of things that are someone else's," he said as he looked up to the star above them," I'm searching for that something myself, and I feel that I'm real close," he then turned his head to Hibiki and gave off a genuine smile," remember, we made a promise to each other to always become stronger and protect the weak, that is something we both need to obtain together, my friend," he said as he extended his hand.

Giving him as much a smirk as he could at the moment, he took his hand and shook it," thank you sensei," he said in a low, but very grateful voice.

**A/N:** well, that's CH.7, to let you guys know, the Dark Gundam isn't the only big enemy to worry about, but you'll just have to see who else will get caught up in the mix of bad Gundam villains to come. If you want to know anything else, post it on the reviews, ja ne.

ShadowDragonGX


	8. REALIZATION

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Vandread or any of the Gundam series, but like all of you know, I do own my OCs and their mechs.

REALIZATION

To say the least of Hibiki's fight, from Taiho's point of view, he saw that the Vanguard pilot was now truly focusing on improving his martial arts and the equipment on his Vanguard as well,' he must be wanting to find out what will make his stronger,' Taiho thought as he sparred with Hibiki at the moment.

Right after the fight with Rabat, Taiho had told him that he was training on making some new techniques and wanted Hibiki to learn these techniques with him, to which the short navy haired man accepted without a second thought. Though he did tell him this, Taiho knew he was telling part of the truth, seeing as how Domon was teaching these techniques to him.

'Yeah, like I'll tell Hibiki that I have a new sensei that is teaching me new techniques from my dreamscape and that he too is from another universe, but only appears in my dreams. That'll really convince him that these aren't just made up techniques,' Taiho thought as he avoided a hook to the face and sent a jab towards Hibiki.

Taiho had been making sure he get enough rest each day, so that he could meet Domon in his dreamscape to learn his martial arts style. So far, he has been doing quite well with learning the style and has learned two techniques that required what Domon called 'Ki'. Taiho thought that the characters from G Gundam didn't even use such energy, but then thought about how all the technique they used in the series; it looked like they required something more than just the Gundams they piloted. Even so, it took Taiho sometime to learn how to manipulate his Ki, but nonetheless, he got the hang of it and was able to learn the techniques taught by the King of Hearts.

The good thing about this was that whatever he learned from Domon, he was able to also transfer that knowledge and teach them to Hibiki himself. But as much time as they took, it was still taking Hibiki time to summon his Ki,' and he doubted what I was telling him was possible, hehehe,' Taiho then thought back to when Hibiki doubted him about such a thing, only to see his sensei's arms glow an eerie aqua glow. That and the punch he made to his gut made him shut up about on whether or not Ki was real.

"Stop," Taiho called out to Hibiki. The Vanguard then halted in his charge and saw the look in his sensei's eyes that were telling him that the sparring match and lessons were done. With that, they both straightened up and bowed to each other. As soon as they did that, they both went for the towels and water they had on the side of a tree.

They both picked up the towels and started to dry their faces off of the sweat that accumulated during the spar. Hibiki then opened his water bottle and drank some. As soon as he was done with that, he turned to Taiho," so sensei, how do you think I'm coming along on controlling my Ki?"

Taiho at the moment was in the middle of drinking some of his water when he heard the question and signaled him to wait for a bit when he was done. When he was done, he wiped the excess water that was trailing down his mouth," you have some time before you can fully use some of you Ki," he then gave a smirk to his fellow pilot," hell, I'm still in the process of mastering my Ki, so I too need to perfect on my control, so don't feel bad about it man."

Hibiki just shrugged,' well as long as I can get stronger and prove my existence, then I can't really complain,' Hibiki thought and then turned to some darker thoughts,' and then maybe I can show that damn old man who is the better fighter,' he got images of him standing over a bloody and beaten Rabat as he stood over him with his foot on top of back and giving off a triumphant pose," hehehehe, hahahahah, HAHAHAHA," he then started to laugh at such images.

'Uh-huh, I'm not going to even ask what crazy thoughts he's even thinking up now,' Taiho thought as he started to inch away from his supposed, but slightly crazy student. He then looked up to see the stars, only to see another planet come into the view of the garden," hey Hibiki, check it out."

Hibiki stopped his maniacal laughing and looked up to see a blue planet coming into the view of the garden," that planet looks cool, it's like it's made of water or something," he said as he looked at the liquid like planet.

'Anpathos,' Taiho thought as he remembered the name of the planet and remembered what going to happen now,' well, I guess it's time to for Jura and Hibki to combine their mechs,' they both then heard the alarm go off," Hibiki, come on, let's get to the hangar now," Taihoo said as he ran off ahead of the short man.

During their little race, Hibiki managed to get ahead of him and opened the door to the hangar," let's show those aliens who's the boss around here," he called out as he ran in, only to stop as a bright light turned on in front of him, which almost blinded him.

A cocky laugh was then heard," the time has finally come," as his eyes adjusted, the voice turned out to be none other then Jura with a reluctant Barnette behind her recording what was going on," listen closely, you and I are going to combine in the upcoming battle Hibiki," she said with the utmost confidence that her combination will be the best," did you get it? I was brave, wasn't I?" she asked her partner.

'Why am I even doing this?' Barnette asked herself as she pretended to that she liked what she was doing and giving her best friends a thumbs up," perfect," she said in a fake cheery tone.

Taiho didn't hear the rest as he passed them to get to his Gundam," you'd think she would mellow out when Bart told her to ease off a bit," Taiho said to himself as he activated his mech,' let's go Dark Angel,' he thought to his machine as the eyes of his Gundam glowed in response. He then turned on the communicator," this is Taiho Lobo in the Dark Angel Gundam, LAUNCHING," he said as he blasted off into space from the hangar.

Not a moment sooner did he get out, he was then shot at from the Cube Harvesters. Taiho saw this as an opportunity to see how his training has been going. He then calmed his mind and activated the ZERO system.

"Captain, Taiho has activated the ZERO system," Ezra said as she looked at the pilot's conditions in battle.

"What does that crazy man think he's doing? Doesn't he remembered the last time he used that system?" BC asked as she hoped this reckless action wouldn't make them lose the battle.

"I think he believes he can truly master that frightening system," Magno said as she looked impassively at the battle ahead of them," and I feel that if he is able to control such a system, I think we may gain a great new ally," she said as a smirk came up on her face.

Back on the battlefield, Taiho calmed his mind and let the future data he was receiving from the Dark Angel Gundam, flow through his mind. He then also felt something burst through his body, as if something or someone just flipped some switch in his mind. When he opened his eyes, they glowed with the light the Paksis gave off, yet they were dulled at the same time as well.

"Let's go," he said in a low tone, as he blasted off towards the enemies firing at him. But the fired rounds seemed so slow to him, he just evaded them with just the slightest of movement to let them pass him harmlessly," pathetic," he said to them, not that they could hear him.

He then cocked his hand rifle and shot off a precise shot to one of the Cubes. This shot went right through it and continued onto two other that were behind it and also destroyed them. He then made a shot over his shoulder, which from the looks what was behind him was another Cube that was sneaking up behind him. He then opened the shoulder gatling guns and fired precise shots at the enemies before him. While he did this, he shot off more rounds from his hand beam rifle with more precise shots.

As soon as he was done taking down a portion of the enemy with his gatling guns and hand beam rifle, he put them away. He then noticed from the future data Dark Angel Gundam was giving him, that the enemy was going to close in on him and try to shoot him at point blank ranges to take him down.

'I'll have none of that,' he thought coldly, as he saw a whole legion of the enemy heading towards him," here I go," he called out as he started to move his hand in a circular motion. As he did this, red flames came in from that circular motion with kanji's within them," from the School of the Undefeated of the East: Twelve Cyclone," he said as he thrust his palm forward and made twelve smaller version of the Dark Angel burst forward from the twelve flames. As they neared, they combined and formed a large black with crimson streaks, twister and took down a good portion of the enemies in front of him," Daishahei," he called out as the twister continue destroy the Cubes.

He then sensed more enemies coming up from behind him," you think you can sneak up on me," he then griped the sword on his back," I think not," he then flung out his sword and shot forth with his energy wings opened.

He then slashed through one Cube through the mid section and punched right through another one what he assumed was its face. He then notices more were starting to gather and took out a beam boomerang from his shoulder and used it as a dagger (he held it in a way the ninjas off of Naruto do with their kunais). He then slashed through one down the middle while gutting one with his beam boomerang. He saw from his position that one was charging above him, so he casually got out the way of its charge and kicked in the mid section. As soon as it got some distance from him, he through his beam boomerang and it hit it right in the face. As soon at it hit, he was already in front of it and took the beam boomerang and slashed upward, then slashed downward with his sword, making the cube into three sliced pieces before it explode. He then put the boomerang back in his shoulder.

He then saw another group trying to got for the Nirvana," I don' think so," he said as he cocked the long range beam rifle from his back and fire. As soon as it hit them, he destroyed the group. But he didn't let off the trigger and dragged the beam that was being held toward the rest of the enemies and destroyed a few more groups that were starting to surround the Nirvana. As soon as he could tell the rifle couldn't take anymore, he stopped and put it back in its place.

During all of this, he didn't notice that Hibiki and Jura went down to the planet's watery surface and combined to make Vandread Jura and that the rest of the pilots returned to the Nirvana, seeing as how they could not destroy the larger ship with their current equipment.

"Whoa," was all BC could say as she looked at the battle Taiho was in with the Harvesters.

"I guess I spoke sooner than I thought," Magno said, as she too was dumbstruck at the moves Taiho used.

When Taiho got back in the hangar, he was met with a curious look from his leader," Meia, what's up?"

"How were you able to pull off that move earlier? I saw no added equipment made to your machine. I should know the capabilities of your machine if I am able to make good formations with our pilots Taiho, you know that," she said as she still held the curious look on her face.

Taiho just shrugged at her," I know you won't believe me, but I was able to do that because I used my Ki, or for a lack of a better word, my life force. The move I used was taught to me by my mother," he said as he lied about the last part.

"I see," she said as she shook her head a bit," I won't even pretend to understand such a thing, but if you're able to do such a thing, please tell me what else you could do so that we can both make the necessary formations for our pilots," she said as she then noticed Dita pacing back and forth behind her.

"Mr. Alien and Jura…they're down there together," she said out loud as she paced back and forth in worry, well more worry on what Jura might do to Hibiki alone.

"Why don't you try to calm down Dita?" Meia said as she was getting tired of watching her pace back and forth.

"But Mr. Alien is alone with Jura on that planet," she said with worry in her voice and a sad look on her face.

"The captain and commander are down there too," she argued, as she wanted to have her stop fidgeting and actually get something done.

"But even so," she then let out a bit of sigh and looked up," Mr. Alien," she said in worry.

Meia just shook her head a bit," ah, young love, what can you do," Taiho said as he held a big smirk on his face.

"Oh, and what makes you thinks this is all about love?" Meia asked as she walked off with him walking along beside her.

"Come on, don't tell me you haven't seen the signs?" Taiho asked as he put his hands in his pockets and casually walked.

"What signs?" she asked as she rose an eyebrow at him.

"The way she looks at him, the way he doesn't just completely brush her off, and the times they both look at each other," he then turned his head a bit to her and gave a big smile," I've seen these looks on my planet and I can see how things are working out between them, even if they don't see it themselves."

"Yeah, and what makes you so keen on the affairs of love, huh?" she asked as she had her own smirk on her face.

"Considering we're on a ship that is full of women and so few of men, I can easily spot how this is happening. It's not that hard to see really," Taiho said as he shrugged a bit too her. He then started to think about something," hey Meia," she turned her head a bit too him as he got her attention," how about I teach you some of my martial arts techniques. This way, if there was a situation that called for it, you would be prepared for the worst."

She seemed to think on this for a bit and then turned to him a serious face," I think that would benefit, when do you want to start on training?" she asked as she wanted to learn how to do the things he did out on the battle earlier.

He then did his own thinking for a bit," how about a little later after we're done with the enemies here. Wouldn't do us any good if we do it no, aahh," he failed to notice he made a misstep and tripped. He tried to get his balance back, but any attempt was stop as he went towards Meia, who made a small 'eep' at what happened.

When they both got their senses back, they noticed that he was on top of her with her back to the wall. Her arms were around his neck and his hands were on her hips. They both looked at each other in the eye for a moment. At that moment, images of them back in Meia's mindscape came back to them, the image of them almost kissing each other; with this in mind, they both started to lean their faces toward each other as they started to close their eyes. As a small moment passed, their lips were about to touch unitl…

"Ahem," someone coughed about to get their attention, which made them whip their heads to see Gascogne with a bigger smirk, than her usual, on her face," I'm not interrupting anything am I?" she asked as she eyed the both of the a bit.

When they got the message, they both got up from their position with beet red faces," N-NO, NOTHING, N-NOTHING AT ALL," they both said in unison, which made them look at each other a bit and made them turn away from each other with even redder faces, if that was even possible.

Taking a deep breath, Taiho looked at Gascogne with the best calm best face he could muster at the moment," I just tripped a-and I happened to land on Meia, th-that just it, this is all just misunderstanding," he said as Meia quickly nodded with him, not wanting to be looked at any differently if word got out of the close encounter," come on Meia, we gotta make those formations," quickly catching onto his meaning, she nodded and quickly followed him, leaving a knowing and smirking Gascogne behind.

"You two should really tell each other how you feel," she said before she turned to walk back to Reg Central.

As soon as the two look back to see Gascogne was out of sight, they both let out a sigh of relief," umm, how about we not talk about this, let's just keep it between us, okay?" Taiho asked with a little blush on his face, to which she gave a small nod and a blush that equaled his.

They both then start to walk with each other again, but not moment sooner did she think about something," Taiho," the Gundam pilot turned his head to her at the moment," before Rabat came on our shipe, what did you mean that we may have more enemies than the Harvesters?"

This made him stop for a bit and made him wonder if he should tell her about the Dark Gundam. But he knew he couldn't keep a secret for long from her, she was a stubborn woman who got the answer she needed when she asked a question. If she didn't, she would go to any means to get the answers she wants from the person. Letting out a sigh, he turned to her and gave serious look," come with me to the hangar," he said simply as he went back to the hangar. Meia just looked at him for a second before following him back to the hangar.

When they get there, Taiho is already in the cockpit of his Gundam along with Meira," this is a recording from the battle before Rabat came on board the Nirvana," Taiho said as he let the recording go. When he got to a part of the recording, he stopped it," now look when I zoom in on this area," the camera then zooms in and shows a shadowed figure.

"I don't get it, that could be just some debris left behind on the mission," Meia said as she tried to make out the image.

"Ah, but wait till I lighten the camera's image," he said as he started to lighten the video a bit. When he was done, he looked to see her with wide eyes.

"What is that thing?" Meia asked with a little fear in her voice.

"You have right to be scared Meia, that thing is a servant of a dangerous, evil, and powerful Gundam," he then turned to her with a grim and serious face," the Dark Gundam," he said simply.

"A Gundam?!" she asked with even more fear in her voice.

"Yeah, a Gundam. Let's just say that our planet is used making such machines and that this particular one is more powerful than all Harvesters put together," he said as she looked at him like he was crazy.

"How is that possible?" she asked as she looked at the Gundam head on the screen.

"There are many things that make the Dark Gundam very powerful. But it has three main abilities that make it a powerful force to be reckoned with, the ability to self recover, to self evolve, and self multiply. These three abilities are what make the Dark Gundam a frightening machine," he answered as he explained the abilities of the Dark Gundam.

"How do you even know about his machine Taiho?" she asked with a bit of suspicion in her voice.

He let's out a bit of heavy sigh," I'll explain when the time is right, so please, just bear with me, okay?" he asked in a bit of worried voice.

Knowing him to be good person, she relaxes a bit and nods," sure, but you'll need to tell me soon, and then we'll both need to tell the captain of this news. It won't do us any good if the crew doesn't know of this potential threat."

"I know, but I feel it is not the right time to tell them yet, as I am sure the Dark Gundam will not strike yet," he said as he got up and jumped out of the cockpit. He then knelt down to pull her up," need a hand," he asked with a smile as he tried to get his mood back.

She looked up to him with her own smile and nodded," sure," she said as she took his hand. He got her up, but she slipped a bit and fell forward, and landed on his chest. They both were caught off guard, but she didn't expect what to happen next as she felt two arms wrap around her," Taiho?" she asked as she felt a little weird by the embrace.

"Meia…I," but he was cut off the alarms went off; they both got out of the embrace and land inside the cockpit. Taiho then brings up Bart on his vid screen.

"Eh, what now?" Barts asks to no one in particular as he looks at the larger ship going in to combine with the strange device that is hovering over Anpathos.

"That's obvious," he then looks over to his screen to see Meia, along with Taiho, speaking to him," you want us to put a immediate line of defense, is that right?"

"Eh, I suppose so, DREAD TEAMS, PREPARE TO SCRAMBLE," he commands with a lot of nervousness in his voice.

Getting amused smirks on their faces, they look at him and say in unison," ROGER THAT."

As soon as that was said, Meia quickly got out of Taiho's mech and went to her Dread. As soon as she did, Taiho blasted out of the hangar with her not far behind. When they got out there, they saw that the other Dread pilots had already gone out to prepare for combat.

"Meia to all Dread teams, our main mission is to maintain a line of defense. Try not to stray to far away," she commanded over the communication systems on all the mechs.

"ROGER," they all say together as they blast off into combat.

Taiho immediately activate the ZERO system and calmed his mind immediately. When he opened his eyes, they were the same as before in the last battle," okay, let's see how I do this time," he said to himself as he blasted off to take down the Harvesters.

He started to shoot off a few round with his hand beam rifle at a few Cubes. As he did, he also used the should gatling guns to take down a few more. One got a little too close for its own good, as it found itself on the other end of a hand when Taiho quickly turned and plunged a burning hand into its face," and now HEAT END," he said as the cube into pieces.

"Don't be such a coward," Taiho heard on his communicator.

'Heh, I guess it's time for that old lady to give her little pep talk,' Taiho thought as he went back to taking down the Harvesters.

"I've been alive a long time and I've seen many deaths along the way. Every time I curse myself for my powerlessness. I curse myself for not being able to do a single thing to save those people. There's hardly so much left to do. So many things left unsaid. When I think of these things, I feel like I'm being torn apart," there then a pause in her speech, but she then continued," but even in their final moment, not a single one gave up on life. They were all brimming shining stars to the bitter end. I'm proud to have known them and proud to have called them friends. And this is the reason why I can never forgive people who RELY ON OTHER TO CREATE THEIR OWN DESTINY," she said as she got angered towards the end of her speech.

'Well said Magno,' Taiho thought as he diagonally slashed a Cube and caught one of his beam boomerangs he had thrown to a group of enemies. He then noticed that Vandread Jura came out of the planets surface and launched its shield discs around the planet,' good job you two, now you can use that planet as you own big super soaker on that large Harvester.'

When he thought that, the Vandread immediately shot out the planets water towards the Harvester that was trying to suck them into it own personal type of black whole, which was most likely used to capture people on the planet's surface. As the water went in, it started to bulge and when it couldn't take it, it exploded into pieces. When that happened, the Vandread returned all the shield discs back to it.

Taiho relaxed as he knew now the battle was over, but that was not to be," one part of the device hasn't been destroyed, it's not disintegrating from the planets atmosphere. It's headed toward the island the captain is on," Ezra called out to everyone on the communicator, but then they heard her gasp.

'Oh, I know I'm not going to like this,' he thought as he blasted off towards the large piece of the device that was heading down on Anpathos.

"Meia is the way of the fragment, someone help her," she said as Taiho's eyes went wide.

"No," he said as he saw that Meia ship wasn't moving," MEIA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? GET OUT OF THERE," he called out to her in fear of losing her.

"My machine isn't responding, I don't know what the hell is going," she said as she tried to frantically get control of her Dread.

Taiho then neared her ship," I'm going to get you out of here," but before he knew it, a light appeared between the both of them. But the gravity started to pull in that light to the planets surface.

"The fragment has entered the atmosphere," Ezra said as she kept everyone notified of the situation," huh? Something is flying ahead of it."

"Huh? What is that, it looks like Taiho's machine, but it's looks almost like the Gundam Epyon, only it blue, red, and white," Hibiki said as he took a zoomed in look of the new Gundam.

The new Gundam had wings just like the costum Gundam and Gundam Epyon, only these wings were sleeker and it had the boosters in them, they also weren't segmented like the Epyon. It had a big rifle in its right hand, along with a shield on its left hand. (basically, it is the Wing Zero from the original series, not the one from the movie)

In the cockpit of the new Gundam, Taiho and Meia were in the same kind of cockpit Gundam Epyon had, but they weren't really paying attention to that little detail though. As soon as they both got enough distance between them and the fragment, they turned the Gundam around and aimed the rifle right at it.

"What do those two think the rifle will do against that large fragment?" Jura asked as she looked at the vid screen of what the Gundam was doing.

Hibiki was too busy getting the reading off this new Gundam. When he was done, he was shocked, but quickly got a big smirk on his face," oh, you'll see."

Taiho and Meia were gritting their teeth at the force of gravity had on them while trying to aim the rifle in the right angle. As it came closer and closer, they still had not got a lock on it, so they fire up the booster on the back on the new Gundam to slow them down and help them aim.

"We will," they both said as it came closer with the lock on system still not locking onto it.

"We will," they both said again as it came even closer.

"We will," the fragment got even closer.

"WE WILL SURVIVE," the lock on system then locked onto it and they fired the large beam rifle. The beam that was fired was huge and hit the fragment. As it went right through the fragment, it took a moment before it exploded into a million pieces.

When the explosion occurred, there was not sight of the new Gundam," Taiho, you there, hey," Hibiki called out to his sensei,' come on, I know you survived. As if on cue, they saw a faint image of the new Gundam flying towards them.

A vid screen then popped in the Nirvana, showing the two pilots in each others laps, though the people were just relieved to see them both alive, so they didn't pay it much mind," ain't nothing like that going to take us down, of that I can assure you all," he said as he gave them all a thumbs up with a cocky smirk. The vid feed then stopped and everyone let out a sigh of relief.

"Ooh, I'm glad that's over, I was getting hot during that whole thing," Meia said as she leaned back, only to find herself leaning back into Taiho's chest. This made her blush a bit of course. But what made her blush more was him wrapping his arms around her waist," Taiho?"

"Just let me stay like this, with you in my arms, just let me stay like this," he said softly into her ear as he rested his head on her shoulder.

For some unknown reason to her, she leaned her head back into his and closed her eyes, liking the feeling of being close to the man she is piloting with at the moment,' right now, I don't care,' she thought as she rested for a bit.

'The thought of losing her was almost too much for me,' Taiho thought as he opened his eyes to look at the serene look on the blue haired pilots face,' I think I've fallen for her and I can deal with that, the only problem is…' he then rests his head back on her shoulder with a little bit of sad look on his face,' does she feel the same way about me?'

A/N: Well, that CH.8 for ya guys, anyhow, I've introduced Ki because I think it serves Taiho better than just relying on the Gundam's current equipment, that and I think that what the people off of G Gundam use to do the techniques they use. If not, oh well, it's my fic and this is how it's going, plus, there is a reason for it, but like anything else, you'll just have to find out. As for when I got the Wing Zero in this, some of you might know what scene and dialogue I used to make it, and yes, it was the final moments of Gundam Wing. If anything else, PM me, or post it on the reviews, ja ne.

ShadowDragonGX


	9. CONFESSION

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Vandread or any of the Gundam series, but you already know the rest of what I do own, now don't ya?

CONFESSION

After the battle on Anpathos, Taiho continued his training with Hibiki on mastering their Ki, along with mastering the ways of the School of the Undefeated of the East. But unlike Hibiki, Taiho has been having trouble with his training. The reason being was that his thoughts were now focusing on a certain blue haired woman. He just couldn't get her off his mind after all the close encounters and contact after the battle on Anpathos. Even when he is allowed to actually sleep, he gets dreams of both of them being with each other. (Not in the perverted way…okay, maybe one or two of them were, but he's a dude, what can ya do?)

Unbeknownst to him, Meia was also having trouble with her work, because she too was having the same train of thought as he did. She just wanted to feel the close warmth around her body just like when they were in the Wing Zero, which Taiho dubbed as the new combination for when they get their machines combined. It wasn't helping that she too were having the same type of dreams he was having of her; it was as if they were both connected by some unknown force (COUGHmeCOUGH) and it was starting to affect their daily routines.

Taiho was now going through his katas to keep his mentality in check,' I wonder if I could use the Hyper mode like the fighters off of G Gundam do,' he thought as he went through his kata,' if I could, it would help against the Dark Gundam. I think I should make it a priority to obtain my true serene state of mind, but I need something to trigger it. The only problem is what would be the source of my true serene state of mind,' he thought, but made a misstep as a image of Meia flashed in his mind,' uuhh, man, this is tearing me apart,' he groaned as he stopped his kata.

"Got a lot on your mind sensei?" Hibiki asked as he saw the look of distraction on his sensei's face,' he hasn't been really focused since Anpathos, what could be distracting him,' he thought as he looked at Taiho.

"You could say that," Taiho said simply as he took a big breath to try and get the images out of his head. Not that he didn't like them, they were just distracting when he doing something important or something that would benefit him in the near future," why don't we stop for the day, okay?" he said as he went to go clean himself up.

"Sure, besides, their seems to be something about a holiday going on tomorrow, I just don't know what it is," Hibiki said as he walked off to clean himself up in the showers.

"Hm?" Taiho then checked his watch to see what the date was,' oh, I see,' he thought as he found out the next day was Christmas Eve,' I wonder if I should get Meia something,' he thought as he tried to think up of something.

He kept on thinking on what he should get his leader and the woman he fell in love with. These thoughts continued on through the rest of the day and the night he slept. When he woke up the next day, he still hadn't thought of what he could give to her. There were many things he could give her, but he felt none of them would amount to what he felt for her,' man, and I thought my love life was dead after Patricia. I've been out of the game for too long,' Taiho thought with a sad chuckle.

He continued in his thoughts as he went to the bridge to see what everyone was doing. When he got there, he froze in place,' I've seen on the show, but seeing it in person kind scares me,' Taiho thought as a he looked at old lady Magno in a Santa costume that should be for males. He felt a shiver go down his spine as everyone was saying she was making a good Santa,' they don't know how wrong they are.'

He looked over to where the old lady usually sat and saw Meia with a small smile on her face as she looked at the scene. Taiho just seemed to stare at her for a minute or two until she turned her head to look at him. Once they look at each other, a small blush came up on both of their faces and they both quickly avert their eyes away from each other.

Taiho quickly thinks of something and walks up to her," h-hey Meia," he says with a little nervousness in his voice. She acknowledges him with a small nod," umm, I was wondering, you aren't busy later on tonight, are ya?"

Seemingly trying to think of what to answer, she shook her head," no, I'm not, why?" she asked curiously.

Trying his best to be his usual mood, he gave a little smirk," now where would be the surprise be in that if I told you, Meia?" he then gestured his hand down below in the garden," meet down by the stream, between midnight and one O'clock, okay?"

Seeing no harm in meeting him, she nods," sure, I'll be there, but you should know I keep myself busy," she said, hoping not to ruin whatever plans he had for the meeting.

"I know, that's why I said between those times," he said as he turned his back to them," I'll see ya later Meia," he said as he went up to the group of men that were hanging out to see what the women were doing, while Meia herself went to get some things done on the ship.

"What's all the commotion about?" he heard Bart ask his fellow males, as they all look down to see what the women setting decorations for Christmas.

"It's because it's Christmas time. Women get like this every year around twenty-fourth of December, that's just the way it is," Pyoro answered as he looked at the activity down below. But then a thought struck him," you guys don't know what Christmas is, do you?" he saw them look at each other for a second, excluding Taiho of course because he had not made his presence known yet. When they shook their head, Pyoro face faulted," it's a festival for crying out loud, don't they have those on Tarak?" he asked as he looked at the men with a comically sad look.

"I don't about Taiho, but us guys from Tarak…" Bart said as he trailed off as he remembered the strange festivals that were more like rituals or something, but these things didn't fit what they were all seeing now," But the festivals we had were anything but enjoyable, were they guys?" he asked his fellow Taraks.

"Yo," Taiho said finally as he made his presence known to the group.

"Oh, hey sensei, do they have Christmas on your planet?" Hibiki asked as he was curious about this holiday.

"Yeah, they do. It's a time of giving and sharing gifts with one another. A holiday of spending that day with those you consider family, or with that special someone, or both," he said as he went over to see what they were looking at and whistled," man, these girls know how to get busy when it comes to decorating."

Just then the door to the bridge opened to show Dita," Ah-hah, there you are Mr. Alien," but seeing the redhead made Hibiki make a beeline out of there," huh? Hey, wait a sec, where you going?" she asked as she chased after the short man. They two Tarak men just look at them curiously.

Seemingly having enough of the look curious, he started to walk forward," well, come on, we don't want to be left behind," Taiho said over his shoulder, which made the two snap out of their thoughts and follow the Gundam pilot.

When they get to a storage room, Hibiki starts to complain," Man, just what do you want me to do in here anyway?"

"Help find the lights to put up on the Christmas tree," Pyoro answered as he started to rummage through some boxes.

Dita seemed to look at the room curiously," I didn't know about his room," she said as she truly didn't feel familiar with this room.

They all then hear a crash happen and see that Hibiki seemed to have fallen through a week wall," ow," he said as he rubbed his head of the pain it had on it.

They all go into the new room that was opened because of Hibiki's clumsy mistake," wow," Dita said as she looked at all the old item in the room. (Which for us, our present time items)

"What is this stuff?" Hibiki asked as he looked at all the old junk in the room.

Duero then ran a finger across a very dusty table," hmm, it would appear these are items from the colonization era," he said as he looked at the various items throughout out the room.

"The colonization era?" Hibiki parroted as he looked to the doctor.

"Yeah," he said simply.

"Hey, look at this," they all then look to see Dita pull out a DVD box," this looks kind of weird doesn't it?"

"Here, give that to me," Taiho said as Dita gave the DVD box to him, he then looked around the room for a certain item," ah-hah," he said as he went up to a DVD player," Pyoro, make a connection to this and give it some power."

"Aye, sir," Pyoro said as he pulled out his wires and made the necessary connection," done."

"Alright, if this is what I think it is, you may get a look what my planet is like," he said to them as he turned the DVD player on. This made them cock their head in confusion, but just shrugged, they would find out what he meant by that in a moment.

When all the video screens on the ship came on, everyone's attention was diverted to the screen to see what was going on. At first they see a fireplace, but the camera moves to a mother, a daughter and a baby within the mother's arms. This didn't surprise them, but what did surprise was the man coming in and giving his daughter a hug and put his arm around the mother.

Most were shocked to see this, with the exception of those who knew Taiho personally. Various thoughts were about when everyone saw this as they all continued to watch the family go on about their Christmas Eve.

'So that's how men and women looked like when they with each other, if Taiho hadn't told me about that, I would have thought this whole thing was just some prank,' Barnette thought as she looked at the family on the video,' somehow, it just seems right,' she then got a little smile on her face.

'I remember Taiho had gotten a silver cross for his Christmas,' Meia thought as she remembered receiving some of Taiho's memories when they were both in her mindscape,' I wonder how it would feel to be like that,' she thought as she looked at the married couple before her in the video. But then she caught herself and blushed,' what am I thinking?'

"Amazing, amazing, amazing," Dita said as she looked at the family enjoying their Christmas. But Taiho didn't hear anything else as he went back to looking around the old storage room.

'Please, let there be a game system with some good games somewhere in here,' he thought as he started to rummage through the boxes,' huh? Ah, hell ya, jackpot,' he thought happily as he found a PS3 with some PS3 and PS2 games, but then he noticed some music CDs that were with it. He then started to look through some of the CDs, some of them he really liked and some he just didn't care about. One did catch his eye though. He picked it up and looked at it for a second and finally made a decision on what he should give Meia as a present," I hope she likes what I'm going to give her?" he said quietly with a warm look on his face.

He then noticed that the others were just now leaving, so he got up and followed his fellow males to the doctors working area to process what they saw. When they got there, Duero took his usual seat, Bart took an extra chair and sat in front of the doctor, Hibiki sat cross legged in front of the two, and Taiho just leaned up against the wall with his arms crossed.

"You weren't kidding about men and women living together like that Taiho, remind me not to doubt you again," Bart said as he leaned back in his chair as he felt a headache coming. The doctor seemed to have felt his pain and gave him some aspirin, which the blond thankfully took.

"Yeah, well that was just one of your typical family Christmas. You should see the ones that have at least two or more cultures in it, it is utter chaos, but it's always fun though," Taiho said as he remembered the way his mom and dad tried to put all their traditional food up for Christmas, to say the least, they had leftovers for at least half a year. But he was taken out of memory lane as the ship shook.

They all stood up, ready to go to their stations if the enemy was attacking," what he hell's going on?" Hibiki asked, as he was broke out from his thoughts.

"False alarm crew, no enemies are attacking," BC's voice said over the intercoms on the ship, which made everyone relax, as they didn't want this Christmas to be messed up because their enemies couldn't wait to kill them.

After that, everyone in the room went about their duties, Duero started to check up on everyone's medical files, Bart was piloting the Nirvana safely through space, but Hibiki was just looking at the various activity going on around him. Taiho though was busy setting up his meeting with Meia,' I hope this works. It's just about the only kind of present I could think of at the moment.'

Once he was done, he checked if everything was in place and in working order. Just as he was about to finish, he felt someone tap his shoulder. He looked and saw Bart giving him a little bit of a pleading look," uh, Taiho, could help me out? I need some help on finding a gift for Jura?"

A bit taken back by this, he thought that the relationship wouldn't have made him want to do that, but he did point him in the right direction a straight male should go for. Taiho then put on a thoughtful look," hmm, how about you get her a ring, preferably, a gold ring with a nice design she'll thinks is 'elegant'," he said as he emphasized the word Jura usually uses.

"Hmm, like this," he asked as he pulled a gold ring with rose designs and a green jade in the middle of it.

"Well, I thinks this qualifies," Taiho said in a sarcastic that made the blond scratch his head a bit in nervousness," but where did you find this, I know there aren't any items like this on Tarak, and that the old room we were in didn't have anything like this?"

"Well, that's just it, it used to belong to an old friend of mine on Tarak. He gave it to me before he passed away, but I'd like to give that to her. Does that sound okay?" he asked, wondering if giving such a thing would be wrong.

"No, it's a good item. But even if it wasn't a good item, I think Jura would understand that it was the thought that counted," Taiho said with a smile on his face.

"Thanks Taiho, you don't know how much you've helped me," Barts said as he got up and left the Gundam pilot to his own devices.

In a hallway, Meia was making her way to the hangar,' I wonder what Taiho is wanting to talk about with me at our meeting,' she then started to ponder on what he could be thinking at the moment, she then stopped for second,' is he going to…no, he wouldn't, would he?' she thought as she went back to walking towards the hangar door with a small blush on her face. She then walks up to an elevator that starts to lift her up to her Dread.

"Hey Meia, aren't you going to the parade?" Meia heard, she looked down to see Gascogne trying to fit a new chair into Dita's Dread.

"At times like these, someone has got to be on guard. I'm going to survey the vicinity," she answered with a straight face on,' and also to clear my mind of these thoughts of Taiho for minute,' she thought as she hid a blush from Gascogne. She then took off. (Just so you guys know, the same things happen to her and Hibiki when they go into the comet, so I won't go into detail about it)

From his position, Taiho sees the flashes of light coming from the comet,' looks like Hibikia and Meia are taking care of the Harvester that was hiding in the comet,' Taiho just shrugged, he knew they didn't need help, so he just continued to make sure what he was setting up will go well with his meeting with Meia.

Seeing as everything was set and ready to go, Taiho got up and walked around the ship for a few minutes, until he came upon the doctors working area. When he looked in the room, he saw Bart and Duero were discussing something," hey guys, what's happening?"

"Oh, doc here is just having a problem with trying to find out what gift he should give to Parfet," Bart answered, but then looked thoughtful for a minute before he turned to his fellow Tarak male," hey, maybe you can ask Taiho what you should give Parfet, he helped me out."

"I just don't know what to do," Duero said as he turned to the Gundam pilot," got any advice?" he asks simply.

"Hmm, why don't you paint her something, something that she likes, but is combined with your own idea," Taiho suggested, as he tried his best to describe in his own way what the doctor made for Parfet in the series,' hopefully, he got the message.'

He was answered as the doctor took a glance at the canvas that were in the were room," maybe…" he trailed off as he got up and picked some painting equipment. From the looks of it, he was trying to make snow.

Taiho quickly got out of the room and went in search of Barnette, because he felt he should at least get her a present, seeing as how they both combine to make a Gundam and how she's been a real good person to him after being on the ship for so long.

It only took sometime before he saw her with Jura. He then took a quick glance at the corner and saw Bart with the ring in his hand,' I guess I could help you out, man,' he thought as he went up to the pair," yo, what's up you two?"

"Oh, hey sub-leader, how's it going?" Barnette asked with a lot of happiness in her voice,' I should be hating this guy, but I guess with someone like him, I can't really hate him that much at all really.'

"I was just wanting to give you something, but you have to come with me, ALONE," he said as he emphasized with the 'alone' part.

"Sure," she said as she took a bit of time to comply with his request," I'll see you around, okay Jura?" she said as she went to catch up with Taiho.

Jura just sighed, now what was she going to do. Without Barnette, things would only get dull. But unbeknownst to her, Bart was beginning to prepare to give her the ring he got for her as a gift.

"So, what is you wanted to give me?" Barnette asked as she was curious as to what she could receive from the Gundam pilot.

"Oh, you'll see and I know you'll love it," he said as he continued to walk ahead with her not being far behind. Once they get to his room, he motions her to follow him. Once they get inside his room, he walks over to an object covered in a brown cover," this is what I'm going to give you," he said as he quickly threw off the cover.

What she saw made her go wide eye and gasp," is that what I think it is?" she asked with a tone of utter happiness. She looked towards him and saw him nod," I can't believe it," she called out and ran over to pick up the object.

"Yup, I found it in another part of the ship that seemed to be abandoned. What you have in your arms is a mini-gun, or gatling gun if you prefer, anyhow it's not loaded, but the box beside it has all the ammunition made for it," he said as he saw her put a strap over her should and held the gun to test the weight on it.

"This is just too cool," she said as she put it back down, ran over to him, and gave him a big hug," thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you Taiho."

"You're very much welcome Barnette," he said as he gave her a warm smile," now, I have to go and meet Meia, I promised her that I would meet her at the garden," but before he left, he turned his head a bit to her," now be careful carrying that around, we don't want the crew going crazy just because you have a new toy to play with."

"I will, don't worry, now go and meet Meia," she said as she pushed him out and went to get her new present,' thank you Taiho, you seem to know what makes us happy and for that, I am thankful.'

As Taiho stepped into the garden, he saw that it was snowing,' good, this should make the what I have plan even better,' he thought as he looked up see Jura and Bart on one of the ledges that see that garden,' so you're putting on the moves are you Bart?' he thought as he saw him bring the ring into view and slip it onto Jura's finger. Jura, in a moment of happines, pounced him with a fierce hug. Even from that distance, Taiho could see that nervous, but really happy look on Barts face,' good job, now it's up to you two to make that relationship grows into something,' he thought as he went to where he was going to meet Meia.

Meia was now quickly trying to make her way to the garden. When she got there, she saw Taiho standing over by the stream," hey, I'm here, so what was it you wanted to talk about?"

"Well, how about we dance a bit first," Taiho said as he turned to with a warm smile on his face.

"Why? There isn't even any music playing," she said as she looked at him oddly.

"Because I want to and as for the music…" he trailed off as he took out a controller and pressed a button. She then heard a piano being played from a stereo that was nearby. She then saw him extend his hand to her," will do me the honor of dancing with you?"

"Sure," she answered in a low tone with a light blush on her face. As they started to dance, the lyrics started to play. (Just so you guys know, it's Selena singing dreaming of you)

Late at night when all the world is sleeping  
I'd stay up and think of you  
And I'd wish on a star  
That somewhere you are thinking of me too

Cuz I'm dreaming of you tonight  
Till tomorrow, I'll be holding you tight  
And there's nowhere in the world I'd rather be  
Then here in my room,   
Dreaming about you and me

At this moment, they didn't care if someone was watching them. They felt the music was singing what they felt and were content to continue dancing.

Wonder if you even see me  
And I wonder if you know I'm there  
If you looked in my eyes  
Would you see what's inside?  
Would you even care?

I just wanna hold you close  
But so far, all I have are dreams of you  
So, I wait for the day and the courage to say  
How much I love you(Yes, I do)

That last line made Meia get out of her trance and look at him with a curious gaze. Her curious eyes met his warm eyes. She wanted to ask what he wanted to say to her, but his smile and warm eyes kept her mouth shut and continue to stare at him.

I'll be dreaming of you tonight  
Till tomorrow, I'll be holding you tight  
And there's nowhere in the world I'd rather be  
Then here in my room,   
Dreaming about you and me

As the music turned to the singer saying things in Spanish, Taiho chose this moment to speak," I've wanted to talk to you, about you, about me…about us. I know that you feel the same way as I do, but if you don't, that's fine," he then took a bit of a breath," I…I…"

'What, what, WHAT,' she screamed out in her thoughts as the word she was secretly hoping for came out of his mouth right at that moment.

He then had enough and said," I love you."

Tears started well up in her eyes, but nonetheless she smiled and hugged him affectionetly," I…I love you too, I don't know how, or when it happened, but I don't care, I love you too Taiho," she said as she rest here head on his chest.

Late at night when all the world is sleeping  
I'd stay up and think of you  
And I still can't believe that you came up to me  
And said, "I love you; I love you too"

Now I'm dreaming with you tonight  
Till tomorrow, and for all of my life  
And there's nowhere in the world I'd rather be  
Then here in my room,   
Dreaming with you endlessly...

They both then stopped dancing and looked at each with love in their eyes. For a moment, Taiho looked up and smirked, which confused her bit," guess what I found, look up," a little bit more confused, she did as he said and gave a bit of a giggle.

"I see, well it is tradition to kiss under a mistletoe," she said with a warm smile on her face. She saw him nod with his own warm smile.

They both looked at each other for a moment before they started to lean towards each others faces. They could feel the anticipation of feeling each others lips. This time, they'll do it, no matter what, they will. Even if someone were to see them, or if some emergency occurred, they'll do it. What felt an eternity for them, was only a second as they both of their lips met each other.

'Her lips are so soft, and they taste sweet,' Taiho thought as they both continued to passionately kiss her. This went on for a few minutes, until they both stopped to get some air. Once they did, they couldn't deny now what they felt for each other," you know, that wasn't the only present I had in mind for you."

"What else could you give me now?" she asked with a little smirk on her face.

"This," he said as he pulled out his silver chain and silver cross from under his shirt. He then took it off and put it on her.

"Taiho, your mother gave you this, I can't accept this," she protested, because she didn't want to take something so valuable and irreplaceable that was his.

"But I want you to have this. Look Meia, this is my decision and I want you to have my cross. Because where ever you are, I'll find you because you have that with you, no matter what, I'll find you," he said as he hugged her in a warm in embrace.

"Taiho…thank you," she said as she returned the hug. For a reason almost unknown to her, she felt her heart and spirit feel a whole lot lighter,' whatever it is, I won't let go of it, not ever,' she thought happily.

'I will always protect you Meia,' he thought as he continued to hug her under the falling snow.

"Pai-check," they both head as a sound of a camera flashes.

They both then look over to the bushes to see Paiway with a big smile on her face, which meant she was their the whole time. This piss the both of them off, because they wanted to be alone in this meeting, so they ran over to her to get her, but made a beeline out of their when she saw them coming for her," GET BACK HERE PAIWAY," they both yell out as they chased her.

"Na-na, can't get me," she said as she stuck her tongue at them,' I know it's not normal for me to say this, but I hope you two have a happy life with each other...always,' Paiway thought happily as the two gave chase to her.

**A/N:** well, that's CH.9, I hope I made this chapter good for you guys. If you want to know why I put the song on this, well, it seemed to be the only song that would fit the mood and situation, so I put it on there. As for those who think I'm making Barnette having much of the scenes in my fic, don't worry, in later chapters she will get a more active role if I have anything to say about it. It's just that now, she doesn't seem to have much of a role right now, now that the pairing is MeiaxOC. Well, if anything else, PM me, or post it on the reviews, ja ne.

ShadowDragonGX


	10. THE RETURN OF A FRIEND

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Vandread or any of the Gundam series, and the rest, you already know.

THE RETURN OF A FRIEND

It has already been at least a week and things between Taiho and Meia have been going good. At first people who had learned of their relationship were giving them weird looks, but they just shrugged them off, if they couldn't take them being together then they should mind their own business. But not so soon after that, everyone voiced they were fine with it, saying that had anticipated them actually getting together. This little news actually made them feel a lot better.

'I would have told them in a better way if it weren't for that damn Paiway,' Taiho thought as he walked through the halls of the ship. After Paiway had taken their picture on Christmas Eve, they both gave chase to her. What they didn't expect her to do was tip over a trashcan to stop them from chasing her. This surprised Taiho and made him trip over it, which in turn made Meia trip as well since she wasn't so far behind him. This made her get on top him with Taiho's hand around her waist. When they got their senses back, they did what any new couple would do at that moment, they kissed each other on the floor,' at least the chase didn't end in a bad way though,' Taiho thought happily.

He then entered the Duero's work area to see what he was doing. When he got inside, he saw Bart was their as well," hey you two, what's up?" he asked as he announced himself to let them know he was there.

"Hey Taiho," Bart said with a happy face. Bart had happily thanked Taiho for recommending the gift he gave to Jura. Taiho just said it really wasn't a problem and that he was only helping a friend out.

"Hello," Duero greeted back, even though he didn't show it, he was a little happy. It really helped that he made the painting for Parfet and that he was on the tech girl's good side and it was thanks to the Gundam pilot. Taiho said he would have thought of it himself and that he was giving a helpful hint that he would've thought later.

"So, what's going on guys?" Taiho asked as he leaned up against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Well, I still feel left out on the bridge. I mean it's only been a few moths since all of this started and tell you two the truth; I've been worried where I stand lately. You know what I mean?" he asked as he sat on the bed with comically complaining face," the bridge crew still treats me like a stranger and I can't shake that feeling that they're just using me," he then turned his head to Taiho with a hopeful face," you got any advice?"

Taiho really thought about this one,' it seems it's about that time for the women to get real sexist, good thing I got Barnette to cool down about being a feminist. Now to actually help Bart feel better about this, hmmm…' he then wondered what Bart could do instead of just cross-dress in front of the entire bridge crew," well, you could confront them this to them. Once you find out what is bugging them about you, you can start to work on what to do to get them to trust you better, how about that?"

"I don't know," Bart said as he really doubted it for a second before shrugging," but what could it hurt to try? If I can't talk them directly, how am I going to talk to them later if I need to talk to them about something else, right?"

"Right," Taiho replied with a smile on his face.

"Well, see ya guys, I'm going to see what I can do?" Bart said as he rushed out of the office to see what he could do to strengthen his relationship with the bridge crew.

"You seem to have become our source on how to better improve our relationship with women, and for that I thank you Taiho," the doctor said out the blue, which caught Taiho off guard.

"Uh, yeah, it's the least I can do seeing as how I'm the only guy from a planet that has such relations," Taiho said as he tried not to let this newly proclaimed position get to him," well, I gotta go, see ya doc," Taiho said as he remembered something and left.

"Bye," Duero said as he went back to his work.

'I gotta stop Hibiki from entering that changing room that girl is changing in, or it'll result in us guys getting the women's wrath,' Taiho thought as he ran through the halls, only to run into someone," oof," he said along with the person, he then shook his head and got up," I'm sorry, here let me you up…" he trailed off as he looked at the women who had a bear suit on with the bear head off, showing an aqua green haired women,' that's the girl Hibiki accidentally peeps on and makes the entire ship gun for us guys,' this made him smirk for a bit,' this is my chance to prevent that.'

"I don't need a man's help," she said with a little heat in her voice.

"Now come on, have I done anything to earn such hate?" asked as he kneeled down and help her up.

"No, but you're still a male," she argued as she kneeled down to pick up the bear head.

"I am, just as much as you are a female. Look, I'm not going to argue that we are both different, but we both have something that both genders have that are the same," Taiho said as he got ready to make this girl doubt the teachings she got from her planet of Mejale.

"Oh, and what would that be?" she said with a cocky smirk, feeling that what she believed wouldn't be doubted or broken.

"Both genders have feelings, the same skin, the same sensation of pain, and among other things. Sure, we may have different feelings, but we both can love, hate, be sad, and become confused. We have the same texture of skin that can heal, be scratched or wounded. And we both can feel that pain when we get cut, or wounded, or have our feelings hurt. These things lead me to believe that no matter what gender, what skin color, what class of people we are, that we all are equal to one another," Taiho answered as he lectured the woman on his beliefs, but then gave a smirk and shrugged," but that's what I believe, and it's not my place to question your beliefs, because everyone has to have their own beliefs to hang onto. It's up to the people themselves to believe whatever they can and continue on with a pleasurable life, like I do, now that I have Meia."

But she didn't hear him say the last part of his sayings, as the lecture on his beliefs made her think a bit on what she believed. Even though her mind was ranting that her beliefs were right no matter what, her heart was saying what he was saying was almost completely true," whatever," she said in almost a low growl.

Seeing this as a chance to prevent the situation in the series to not happen, he gave a smile to the girl," mind if I escort you to where ever you are going, I'll help you out and let you see what I mean about my belief," he said as he extended his hand.

She looked back and forth the hand and his face, but just sighed and nodded as she walked passed him," sure," she answered as went to go to the changing room.

As they both walked, Taiho tried his best to convert the women's sexist mind, but it was hard to do since her mind was dead set that men were the enemy and they were a disease to women. But Taiho could tell he was getting through to the woman, at least just a little. When they got to the changing room, she told him to stay outside and not come in, which he obeyed as he kept watch for Hibiki. Not a moment sooner, Dita and Hibiki came down the hall with food in their arms, with Hibiki carrying most of the luggage.

"Mr. Alien, can't you walk any faster?" Dita asked as she carried her single box of carrots.

"Yeah, yeah," he said as he wobbled around with three boxes stacked on top of each other in his arms," you're really annoying sometimes, ya know?" he then noticed Taiho standing outside the door of the changing room.

"I'll see ya in the kitchen," Dita said as she went ahead of the short man.

"Sensei, what are you doing here?" Hibiki asked as he stepped up to the Gundam pilot, but then he tripped a bit.

'Ah crap, gotta stop him,' Taiho thought frantically, as he caught Hibiki and the boxes just inches away from the door. Taiho let out a sigh of relief,' thank goodness I prevented that,' he then heard the door behind him open to show the woman behind him a different, but same colored bear suit, with the bear head on.

"I'm going back to the bridge," she said simply as she went around him. But he didn't expect her to do was wave goodbye to him," see ya," she said as she went around the corner.

'Well, I guess I got through to her,' he thought, as he felt glad that he prevented a 'man'-hunt to happen on the ship. He then dusted himself off and turned to his student and answered his previous question," I was accompanying that girl just now, but I guess I'm free now," he then looked at the boxes that he was carrying," need any help?"

"Naw, I got it," he then picked up the boxes and went to catch up with the bubbly redhead," see ya sensei," he said as he went around the corner.

Taiho then heard his watch communicator beep," yes, Taiho here, what is it?" he asked as Meia smiling face came up on the watches small screen," oh, and what do I owe the honor of my girlfriend calling me?" Taiho asked playfully.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she asked back with her own playfulness, but then gave a sigh with a serious look now on her face," it's time we told the crew about the new threat, because I have just received a signal similar to your Dark Angel Gundam," she then paused a bit," it might be the Dark Gundam," she said seriously.

"I see," he said with serious look on his face as well. Taiho then just sighed and shrugged," well, I guess its time then; I'll be down there, okay?"

"Okay, see you then," she said as she closed off communications with her boyfriend.

When he got there, he saw Paiway showing a video of Dita crying and Hibiki trying to see what was wrong with her, which Paiway was saying it was him yelling at her and hurting her feelings," hey girls, what's going?" he asks as he tries to look innocent of what is going on.

"You, what do have to say for this?" Paiway asks angrily at Taiho, who just looks at her with a bored look as she pointed to the recording.

Taiho just goes up to the video screen, readjusted the camera and showed the onions that were below Dita," what I have to say is that you weren't looking at the whole picture, as you can see, the onions are cut open and are having an affect on Dita's eyes and that Hibiki is trying to see what is wrong with her," she then looks at the floor with a little shame. Taiho just shook his head, but then got a serious look on his face," but that's not important now," he raised his voice to let those who in the room know what he was going to say," everyone, Meia and I have an announcement to make, this information involves the entire crew and the two planets we are trying to save, which I am going to announce throughout the ship," he then went up to the intercom and opened the channel to all the ship's speakers.

"Everyone, I have an announcement to make," Taiho's voice went through the ships speakers, which caught the attention of everyone on the Nirvana," I have come upon some very bad news, it seems that the Harvesters are not our only enemies we have to worry about," Taiho then put a disc through a computer and sent the images throughout the ship. When everyone saw the Gundam head, everyone thought were but one thing, 'what the hell is that thing'," this is a minion of a very dangerous, evil, and powerful machine, a machine called the Dark Gundam. Yes, a Gundam, this Gundam has the power to topple the Harvester in one attack if it could. It has three powerful abilities, the ability to self recover, self multiply, and self evolve," he then paused a bit to let this information sink in everyone's heads," Meia has informed me that she has caught a signal that is very similar to that of my Dark Angel Gundam, so what I plan to do is to take my Gundam and head out to see if it is the Dark Gundam or a minion that is scouting, is out there in space," he then took a deep breath for a moment," and captain, I will talk to you later on how I know about this and what this all means to me, I can assure you of that." He then cut off the communication on the intercom.

"So, you're going to go out by yourself to see if it is the Dark Gundam?" Meia asks, as she didn't know he had that planned.

"Yeah, we need to be sure so that we can form an affective line of defense," Taiho answered with a serious face on.

"I know that, but…" she trailed off as she looked at the floor for a bit and walked up to him. She then put her arms around him in a hug. Taiho didn't know she was going to do that, but quickly put his arms around her. After a moment of silence, she looked up to him," just be careful out there, okay?" she asked with a look of worry on her face.

Taiho cupped his hand on her cheek and pecked her on the lips," you know I will," he answered as he smiled at her, but that smile quickly turned into a smirk," but you're worrying over nothing. If anything's got anything to worry about, it would have to be the Dark Gundam, since I'm going out to hunt it."

She shook her head at him and gave him a smile," whatever, just come back okay?" she asked.

"I will," he then got out of the embrace and turned his back to leave," see ya then," he said as he rushed off to the hangar.

When got in sight of the door of the hangar, he saw Hibiki standing by the entrance," where do you think you're going sensei?" he asked casually as he had his arms crossed while leaning on the door of the hangar room.

"You heard where I'm going; do you intend to stop me from going? Cause if you are…" he trailed off leaving the message to hang, but to also be known as a little bit of a threat.

Hibiki just rose his hands up in defense," I don't intend to do anything of the sort sensei, but I would have thought you would want to bring some reinforcements with you, just in case," he said with a smirk on his face and opened the hangar door.

"Huh? Now wait just a minute Hibiki…" but he was cut off as the short man raised his hand to stop him talking.

"You're not going to stop me from coming with you Taiho, and that's that," he said as he left no room for argument.

Taiho just slumped his shoulder and sighed," Whatever," he then walked passed him and with out looking at him, he spoke," just don't get yourself killed out there; I don't think Dita could handle your loss."

Blushing at the implications, the navy-haired man yelled at him in annoyance," what the hell does that annoying woman have to do with anything?" but Taiho chose the wise choice not to answer that, Hibiki needed to figure things out on his own, right?

Taiho and Hibiki got within the respective mechs and prepared to leave. As Taiho neared getting ready to leave, he received a call from someone on his communicator watch," Taiho here, what is it?" he then saw Meia's face on it, but along with her was Barnette," hey you two, what's going?"

"I just wanted to wish you luck one more time Taiho," Meia said truthfully, she then turned her head to the green-haired woman," go on and say what you wanted."

"Right," she said as she stepped to the screen," don't die out there because you just wanting to find out about this Gundam, you've become a valuable comrade and friend, and I'd be damned if I lost a friend like you, got it?" she asked with a stern face.

"Got it, and thanks, it's nice to know that I'm really appreciated," he said with a happy face,' this really has become a good life, even though it only took a war to receive such a good life,' Taiho thought as he went back to finishing up on his set-ups," well, until then you two," he said as he finished up.

"GOOD LUCK," they both said before they cut off communications.

Taiho and Hibiki then got up to the launch pads and waited for the respective hangars to open, "Hibiki Tokai, Vanguard, HEADING OUT," Hibiki announced for once as he launched from the launch pad.

"Taiho Lobo, Dark Angel, LAUNCHING," Taiho called out as he left himself. Once the two got some distance from the Nirvana, they saluted a goodbye to the ship.

Everyone saw the salute and watched the two sparkly tiny lights fly off in the distance. Meia had watched from the garden with her hand clenching on the cross she received from Taiho. Barnett saw this and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Meia turned and saw the green-haired woman give reassuring smile and smiled back, thanking her for the comfort. They both looked back to where they saw the both of them blast off and had one thought,' come back safely you two.'

"It seems it will take a while before we get to the source of the signal," Taiho informed his fellow pilot, he then put the Gundam on auto-pilot and rested himself on the floor of the G Gundam cockpit," get some rest, we'll need it if we run into whatever is there."

"Right," Hibiki said as he set his mech on auto-pilot as well and closed his eyes to rest for the rest of the trip.

It took at least half days worth of time for them to rest. As soon as they both woke up, they started to get bored with the distance they had to travel to get to the source, so they started to chat on what they could do to improve their martial arts and among other things. But they were both caught off as Taiho saw that the signal flicker a bit,' huh?' they next thing he knew, Taiho saw several unknown fighter signals coming towards them. As soon as he saw that, a barrage of blue lasers came towards them.

Taiho, being used to the ZERO system and his own senses of self-awareness, was able to dodge the shots easily. Hibiki though wasn't as lucky as one of the stray shots hit him in the right arm," Hibiki, are you alright?" Taiho called out to see if he friend was too injured to fight.

"I'm okay, they just grazed me," he said as he mech clutched it burning arm. He then looked on his radar and saw the multiple blips coming towards," heads up, we've got company," he called out as he got himself ready to destroy them.

Taiho took one look at them and knew who they were,' the Menalos fleet,' Taiho recognized the fighter and carrier ships. Seeing that Hibiki was about to go in and destroy them without a second thought, Taiho quickly signaled him," Hibiki, wait!!"

The Vanguard was about to blast off, but stopped and acted as if it was about to trip. The Vanguard then turned to the Gundam quickly," what, we should hurry up and take these guys out; they might be with the Harvesters."

"That may be, but we don't want to risk that, so just incapacitate them by cutting their engines, their wings, or whatever else you can think up, alright?" he asked as he didn't want to get on the bad side of the Menalos fleet that much,' they never sent out the whole fleet of fighters when Hibiki came, what's different this time?' he wondered as he saw the fighters draw in closer.

"Alright, if you say so sensei," he said as he made his Vanguard shrug," now then," he said as he turned back to the fight at hand and quickly grew a smirk," LET'S GO," he said as he blasted off.

Taiho just shook his head and followed not too far behind his supposed student. The first two fighters tried to shoot him down, but Taiho went right passed their fired rounds as he gripped the sword hilt on his back. As soon as he got close, he quickly slashed their wings off and put his blade beam back on his back.

When he got passed those two, four other fighters came up from behind and tried to shoot him down. But Taiho just weaved through the fire, turned upside down and fire his hand beam rifle, long range beam cannon, and shoulder gatling guns at them and took off their wings, engines, or both at the same time.

He saw two other fighters firing at him, but all the same, he went by the fire without a scratch, used his blade beam and cut through the one of the two others fighter's wings off. When he got some distance, he aimed his hand beam rifle and shot the engines.

"AAhh, dammit, this thing just won't go down, just like that other one," the surviving fighter pilot said as he gritted his teeth and looked at Hibiki's Vanguard. Hibiki wasn't doing as good as Taiho, but he wasn't too far behind him, with only getting scratches and grazes from stray shots from the fighters," I'll take that guy down," the pilot said as he rushed off to take down the Dark Angel Gundam.

Taiho was caught off guard as one of the fighters went in for ram,' what the hell is this guy thinking?!' he thought as he pushed the fighter off,' NOW!!' he thought as he took the blade boomerang from his shoulder and threw it at the fighter and cut off the right wing. He heard the pilot yell out in pain,' now to finish it,' he thought as he took his other boomerang and aimed it at the engines.

"STOP," a familiar voice called out, two beams came out of nowhere and shot the boomerangs that were going to hit the fighter. As soon as they were shot, they bounce right back to Taiho. Once they were back in his shoulders, he looked to see who shot them, only jump back to avoid a slash from a beam saber aimed to kill him.

"Whoa, now that was a…close…one," he slowed down as his eye widened at the mech before him. The Mech had blue colored wings, with some gold color here and there and jagged blue marks all over it while the whole body was completely white, but one thing came to Taiho's mind as he looked at the different colored schemed mech,' Strike…Freedom,' he thought as he looked at the mech.

He could tell it had the body frame of the Gundam from Gundam Seed Destiny. But the shoulder pads on it seemed rounder for some reason, which Taiho came to the conclusion of them being the boxer enhancements of the Gundam Maxter from G Gundam. He also saw that he had the shoulder vulcan guns of the Burning Gundam as well. Everything else was that of the Strike Freedom's weapons and defense equipment, as hit had its twin hand beam rifles behind its lower back, the wing DRAGOON units, the lower the rail cannon units just below the beam sabers that were on its hips, and the central long rang beam cannon in its chest. From he could tell, he also had the beam shields on both of the arms as well.

'Who could be piloting that custom Gundam,' Taiho thought as a whole barrage of other question went through his mind. But he was taken out of his thoughts as the other custom Gundam quickly rushed in with its beam saber," shit," was all Taiho could say as he took out his beam blade and burst open his energy wings. He then slung it over his shoulder and rushed the Gundam.

The two of them clashed each other as they made passes at each other with their blades. They then met a third time and struggled to dominate the other in strength,' who is this guy, he's just as good as me,' Taiho thought as he tried to push his blade further. They both then jumped away from each other, seeing as how that little battle was going nowhere.

Once the other Gundam got some distance, he took out both his hand beam rifle and combined them to form a single long rifle. He then shot a concentrated shot at Taiho, who for once, used his beam shield to block the shot,' you want a beam, I'll give you a beam,' Taiho thought as he cocked the long range beam rifle on his back and aimed at the Gundam. Taiho then pulled the trigger as the other custom Gundam fired its central beam cannon. The two beams met each other and tried to dominate each other, only to cancel each other out.

Hibiki, along with the fighters of the Menalos fleet had long since been done fighting, as Hibiki had talked over the communicator that they were just investigating a signal and that they were allies against the Harvesters. With that done, everyone just watched the two Gundams go at it with all the skill they had at the moment,' their testing each other,' Hibiki thought, as he watched Taiho fight the other Gundam. He knew he wasn't using all of his skill, and he also could tell the other person who was piloting the other Gundam, wasn't using all of his skill as well. He then saw them Taiho tackle the other Gundam into an asteroid, where no one could see what was going on.

Deep within the asteroid, the two continued to fight as they spun around in the chasms of the rock, while still holding on to each other with their blades in the middle. Taiho quickly got out of the lock and dashed ahead, he then opened the shoulder gatling guns and fired, but the other Gundam just dodged the shots. Once it got the chance, the other Gundam rushed, tackled Taiho, and pushed him through a wall. The other Gundam shot off a few rounds of his own as soon as he got up from the tackle, but Taiho quickly got up and blasted off. The white, but blue jagged Gundam quickly followed, but Taiho turned around just in time to put his beam shield up to block a blow from his beam saber.

Taiho used this moment to knee the Gundam in the gut, which made the Gundam stagger back a bit,' this guy is good,' the Dark Angel pilot thought as a smirk crept up on his face,' I'll find out who you are now,' he thought as he plunged his blade beam into the floor of the asteroid. The other Gundam cocked its head a bit in confusion, but Taiho answered a bit by cracking his Gundam's neck and knuckles, he then motioned him with his hand saying 'bring it on'.

The other Gundam just shook his head a bit, but quickly took out both its beam and connected them. But this is what surprised Taiho as the two connected beam saber's hilts extended and formed a staff. Once it stopped, two trident beam blades came out,' that's Shenlong Gundam Custom's trident staff,' Taiho thought as he saw the pink color of the blade turn green. The other Gundam then plunged the double sided beam trident into the asteroid's floor. Once it did that, he followed Taiho's and cracked the Gundam's neck a bit while doing the same to its knuckles. He then bounced up and down as if testing his movement of speed in the current environment. He then took a sort of boxer stance and waited for Taiho to make his move.

Taiho smirked at this, he was now getting a pretty good idea of who was piloting that Gundam,' now to find out if I'm right,' Taiho thought as he took a stance he used to use back at home. He then opened the speaker on his Gundam and spoke," this fight will determine who has the better skills, get ready," he called out as his muscled tighten a bit," GUNDAM FIGHT," he called out.

"READY," the familiar voice also called out from his Gundam.

"GO," they both said as the time as they both charged each other. They both charge with their fist cocked and punched forward. As soon as they passed as each other when they clashed each other's fists, they both started to do some of their movements. The white Gundam started to bounce around like a boxer as its feet shuffled back and forth with its body moving constantly. Taiho was moving around like he was Bruce Lee, while trying to make the white Gundam flinch with his feints of charging in with attacks.

Not a second later, the white Gundam let out a barrage of boxer styled punches at Taiho. With his martial arts extincts, he dodged the punches with some ease. Taiho then jumped up and gave his own barrage of attacks, only this time with his kicks. The white Gundam dodged the kicks in the way a boxer would. Once Taiho landed, they started to send punched to each other left and right.

When they broke off, the white Gundam threw a hard right hook into Taiho's face. This stunned him a bit enough for the white Gundam to send two jabs to his chest, a punch to his gut, and then a punch to face again which was followed up by an uppercut to the face.

Gritting his teeth, Taiho snapped his eyes open and quickly kicked the white Gundam right in the face. Taiho did a left, right kick to his face followed up by a hard downward kick on his shoulder. Taiho then quickly gave a hard punch to its gut. Once he saw him stunned for a bit, he did a barrage of punches to his gut, making the Gundam feel more pain to his gut. Once he was done with that little combo, he repaid the white Gundam and uppercut it right in the jaw. The Gundam flew up a bit, which left Taiho to follow it and give a hard kick that sent it right into the asteroids floor.

This didn't make it happy as it got right back up and charged forward with its hand cocked back to punch Taiho right back, but Taiho caught the punch. The white Gundam then sent its free hand to punch him again, only to once again be caught by Taiho's other hand. Seeing this going nowhere, they both separated their hands a bit to clasp each other's hands in a deadlock. They both struggled to dominate each other, as they did this, they area around them started to quake a bit from the power they were both putting out.

'It is him, I knew it,' Taiho thought as he kept up with the white Gundam's strength. After a minute or two passed, they both jumped away from each other, waiting for each other's next move. But now, Taiho wanted to finish this fight right now," hey, about we do our best attacks, winner takes all," Taiho proposed. The white Gundam stopped for a bit and nodded. The pilot then let out a bit of a battle cry as the shoulders pads on it blasted off and connected onto his fists.

"This hand of mine is burning red, its loud roar tells me to grasp victory," Taiho quoted as his hand started to glow bright red.

"ERUPTING BURNING…" Taiho called out as he dashed forward with his energy wings bursting open and his right hand bursting into flames.

"BURNING…" the white Gundam pilot called out as he dashed forward himself as the white metal like boxer glove started to turn red with his own wings bursting out.

"FINGER/PUNCH," they both called the last words of their attacks as they met each other in the middle of their charge.

"It's nice to know you're here…" Taiho said as he vid screen popped up on his three-sixty degree monitor, showing a black male in blue and white clothing. He had a white cap with a white du rag, a blue and white sports jersey with a number on it, blue faded baggy jeans, and white with blue striped addidas.

"…Marcus Kensington."

**A/N:** Well, that CH.10 for you guys. Yep, a new OC and a new Gundam, love it or hate it, your choice. Anyhow, you didn't think Taiho was the only one to go to the Vandread universe, but if you're wondering how he got there in the first place, you'll find out in the next chapter. As for the whole thing about the episode, I figure that since Taiho was there to help strengthen the relations between the men and women, it wouldn't be as bad as it was on the series. If anything else, PM me, or post it on the reviews, ja ne.

ShadowDragonGX


	11. MARCUS’S STORY

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Vandread or any of the Gundam series, and everything else; you already know what I own.

MARCUS'S STORY

"Nice to see you too, Taiho," Marcus said with a smirk as he and Taiho struggle to overcome each other's perspective attacks. Just as one of them was about to power their attacks further, Marcus is hailed by the commander of the Menalos fleet," what is it? Don't you see I'm busy here, dammit?"

"I think you've had enough fun," the commander said," it seems these two were just here to investigate YOUR signal, from what I can understand from the man who told us of their intentions," the command then rose an eyebrow at him," and I don't think Nagi would…" but he was cut off as Marcus gave him a cold glare.

"I thought I told not to speak her name, EVER," the white Gundam piloted growled with fire within his dark brown eyes. He then took a big breath and gave an apologetic look to him," I'm sorry, you know how I feel when people talk about her," he then turned his attention to his fellow Gundam pilot," Taiho, we're done now, how about we get outta of here and head to my ship?"

"You're ship?" Taiho asked, as he felt surprised that his best bud had one, and that he didn't notice that they both backed off from attacking each other.

"Yeah, my ship, come on homie," he said as he blasted off with a little confused, but happy Taiho behind him. Taiho was now just glad he was meeting his best friend and knew that he would explain why and how he even got in this dimension in the first place.

As soon as he got out, Taiho was contacted by Hibiki," hey sensei, are you alright?" he asked as his vid screen popped up in Taiho's cockpit with a worried look on his face.

"Yeah, I'm good, I was just doing a little sparring with an old friend of mine," Taiho said with a happy look on his face. Hibiki raised an eyebrow at him, but nodded and knew Taiho would explain what happened to him later.

"My ship is this way," Marcus said as he blasted off in the direction away from the Menalos fleet. When Taiho saw where he was going, he saw a familiar ship he had seen off of Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny.

"THAT'S your ship?" Taiho asked with wide eyes. Marcus face came up on his monitor with a big smirk on his lips. What Taiho was looking at was the ship that belonged to Lacus Clyne on the Seed series, the Eternal. Only the color was a bit different, seeing as how it was black with red and white highlights going around it.

"Yup, though I still haven't named it yet, I may not do it all," he answered as he cocky face turned sad. Taiho was about to ask what was wrong, but Marcus jus shook his head," never mind that, let's get on board and I'll tell you how I got here."

Nodding his head, he followed his fellow Gundam pilot. When they both got in, Taiho saw that it had the same type of platforms made for Gundams and other mobile suits to be put on standby, so he went for the one beside where Marcus had placed his Gundam. Once he got out, Marcus was waiting by the door that lead inside," come on, I'll fix us up something and I'll tell you what happened," he said as nodded his head toward the door.

As they both walked the halls, Taiho couldn't help but note one thing,' there isn't anybody on this ship,' he thought as he looked at the empty halls of the ship. Taiho then focused on the black male in front of him,' why? Shouldn't the Menalos fleet have sent some of their people to help keep it under good condition?' deciding that he should voice his thought, he spoke," Marcus?" his best bud stopped and looked towards him," I've noticed that there isn't anyone on this ship, why?"

Marcus then turned his back to him and Taiho felt he wasn't going to answer, but he spoke in a monotone type voice," it's because I requested that they leave this ship alone for me to take care of," he then turned his head a bit and Taiho saw sorrow in his eyes," I want to take care of it…for her."

Seeing the look in his eyes, Taiho stopped himself from asking anything else at the moment,' he'll tell me I guess…at least I hope so,' Taiho thought as he followed Marcus to the mess hall of the ship.

As they got in the mess hall, Marcus tells him to relax on one the seats of the mess hall. Taiho then waits for his friend to come back from the kitchen. When he does, he see Marcus carrying two trays of hamburgers, French fries, and two glasses of soft drinks (or soda, or pop, or however you want to call them). Taiho thanks him and starts to eat his food along with Marcus. They eat their food in relative silence, not one of them speaking a word while they ate. Once done, Marcus takes the trays and glasses to the kitchen's sink. Once he did that, he returned to his seat and sighed," I guess it's time I told you how I got here, huh?"

"If you would, it's not that I'm not glad you're here, but…" Taiho said as he trailed a bit.

"I know, well, here goes," he then took a deep breath and spoke," it all started after I left you at the park, when I told you I was going to leave for texas…"

FLASHBACK 

Marcus was now at his house, packing what little things he had in his home,' this really sucks, I don't want to leave, but I have to,' he then sighed again, he really wanted to stay and hang out with his best bud, Taiho,' but I have to go to the college there in order to get the education I want.'

_About some hours went by and Marcus was finishing up on packing his things in his car. Once done, he got in and sat there for sometime. He sat in the seat his car without turning it on, while thinking of something. He then got an idea,' well, it wouldn't hurt to have one last time of game playing with him and among other things,' he thought happily, so he started the car and drove off to have one last bit of fun with his best bud._

_As he drove, he started play some of the music he copied off the CDs he bought and mixed together. But then it suddenly stopped playing the music,' what the fuck?' he thought as he pushed the on button for the radio…nothing happened,' okay, come on, don't tell me it broke down on me, I got enough troubles on my mind already,' he thought as he tried to get the radio and CD player to work for him. After some minutes, he gave up,' ah fuck it…Taiho isn't going to believe the thing just busted on me,' he thought as he kept on driving, only to see the radio comeback to life,' okay, what the hell?'_

_What he didn't expect to hear was a voice that sounded kind of creepy with a monotone sound to it," you are one of the chosen few," it simply said before the view in front of Marcus started to turn bright white._

"_What the fuck?!" he asked himself, only to soon find himself not in his car and standing in a small open field of flowers,' okay, how the hell did it turn all 'Advent Children' on me?' Marcus thought to himself as he started to look for anyone that was in the field._

_He looked behind him to see someone relaxing with a piece of stick in their mouth. He walks up to him, only to go wide eyed to see who it was,' Chibodee Crocket from G Gundam,' he thought as he looked at the Gundam pilot of Neo-America._

_Chibodee opens his eyes and notices the black male staring at him with wide eyes," hey, what going on Marcus?" he asks in a cool casual manner._

_Taken out of his thoughts, he's surprised to hear his name from the Queen of Spades," you know my name?" he asked him as he pointed to himself._

"_Yup, sure do kid," Chibodee then got up and dusted himself off," seeing as how you're the Guardian Spirit Tiger of the West," he answered as he looked at him with a smirk._

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute, you met Chibodee and he told you that you are the Tiger of the West," Taiho asked in a frantic voice.

"Yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but I did meet him and he did say that," he then took a looked at him and rose an eye brow at him," why?"

"Because man, I met Domon and he told me I was the Dragon of the East," Taiho answered as he pointed to himself, but then he shook his head," but I'll tell you all about that later, continue with what you were telling me," Marcus then nodded his head and tried to think back on his story.

"Well after he had said that, I asked him what he meant, but…"

"Oh, you'll find out kid, anyhow, you're buddy Taiho is in some trouble, you know that?" Chibodee asked with a smirk that held the twig in his mouth.

"_Huh, what do you mean he's in trouble?" Marcus asked in a worried tone._

"_He's been sent to a dimension you two both know well, or should I say show," Chibodee said as he tried to think, but just shrugged," anyway, it's your choice if you want to follow him and help him out."_

"_I ain't got nothing to think about, if my homie is in trouble, then I'm going to help him," Marcus said immediately._

"_I guess it's a good thing he has a friend like you, well, get to thinking," he said simply. After some moments passed, Chibodee noticed that Marcus hadn't done anything," what's the matter, why ain't you thinking up of a Gundam?"_

"_Huh?" he Marcus said," what, you mean I gotta think up of a Gundam? You mean I got think of a Gundam to use or something?"_

"_Yup, you think of the Gundam you want, you can even think of combinations to the Gundam itself," Chibodee answered in a matter of a fact tone," Taiho has already thought of one himself and is going to use it in the universe he is going to be in."_

"_I see," Marcus said, he then started to think on what his Gundam should look like. After he was done, he heard Chibodee whistle and looked to see the Gundam he had created in front of him._

"_Nice piece of machinery, I like how you put my Gundam enhancements on yours," Chibodee complimented as he looked at the boxer enhancements that were on the Gundam," so, what are going to name it?"_

_Taiho thought for a minute and then thought of one last thing to add to his Gundam. He turned it completely white while leaving the gold parts on it alone; he then put blue jagged lines on it. When it was done, he looked at it and thought of one name for it," Angelic Byakko Gundam."_

"_Byakko, doesn't that mean white tiger?" Chibodee asked; as he wanted know if he meant that._

"_Yeah, since you said I'm the Tiger of the West, I mind as well give my Gundam the feeling of being a tiger," Marcus answered as he didn't take his eyes off the Gundam he had created._

"_Nice thinking," he complimented, he then turned to him with a serious face," now that you've got this done, it's time that you be sent to the dimension you friend is in," he then paused a bit and then smirked," but don't think you'll be going in without some training, while you are in this dimension, I'll be training you while you sleep."_

"_Can you do that?" Marcus asked in surprise and excitement,' if he's telling me the truth, I wonder if I'll be able to do the Cyclone Punch, Burning Punch, hell, even the Machine Gun Punch,' he thought as he could only fantasize on using such techniques._

"_Yeah, well," he then nudged Marcus up to his Gundam," go on and hop in, it's time for you to go," Marcus was about to climb on his Gundam, but Chibodee then remembered something and stopped him," oh, I forgot something."_

"_What?" he asked as he looked at the Queen of Spades, who only smirked at him. Next he knew, he was enveloped in an aqua colored light._

"The Paksis Pragma," Taiho thought outloud.

"Yeah, that's what I thought myself when I got to this dimension, once I knew this was the Vandread universe," Marcus agreed," anyhow, after that, I didn't even need to climb up my Gundam, I could just jump up to the top of the cockpit like as if I was a ninja off of Naruto…"

_Once inside the cockpit, Marcus started to check if the movements of the Gundam were good. Once satisfied, he looked up on his three-sixty degree monitor to see Chibodee look up to him with a smirk on his face," you ready to go kid," he asked out loud to him._

"_Yeah," he nodded as he got himself psyched,' don't worry Taiho, I'm coming to help you homie,' he thought to himself._

"_Alright, see you next time when you rest," Chibodee said as he gave him a thumbs up. The next thing Marcus knew, he was in space._

'_Okay, let's review the situation. You're by yourself, in your own custom made Gundam, with no civilization in sight, what do you do?' he questioned himself. After some moments, he then went over to the communications system," you try and see if anyone is out there and send a distress signal," he answered himself out loud._

_After some moments, he sees that no one is within the immediate area, so goes ahead and sends a distress signal for someone to catch. After he did that, he knew it would take a while for someone to receive the signal and sat himself down to rest,' no other choice but to rest now anyway,' he thought as he closed his eyes to sleep, with Chibodee there to help him train._

_About half a day had passed and Marcus had just started to wake up. He then heard something on the radar that something was nearby, so he quickly looked around to see what it was," hey, anyone there, hello," he called out, only to be met with silence._

"_Hello?" he called out again, unsure that anyone had heard him at all. He then saw something off in the distance that he seemed to look familiar to him,' no, it can't be…can it?' he thought._

_Next thing he knew, he was being attacked by one of the cube Harvester," shit it is," he said as he dodged shots being fired at him. Just as he was about to attack, a whole barrage of blue laser were shot from behind him, destroying the cube Harvesters," huh?" he said as he paused himself from attacking at all,' man, I should have been the one to take them out, that's bullshit,' he then looked to see who had helped him, only to see the entire Menalos fleet behind him,' okay…I hope I'm not screwed,' he then looked at one of the ships, only to see them cock their cannons at him,' I'm screwed.'_

"_Hailing the strange mech, are you friend or foe? Answer correctly and we may let you live," a vid screen then popped up to show the commander of the fleet._

"_Uum, would it help to say I'm definitely a friend and that I'm totally lost in space?" Marcus asked in a scared voice,' please, oh please don't let them think I'm an enemy.'_

_The commander then grew a smirk on his face," it helps that your at least showing emotions that are showing you're an actual human," he then got a warm looking face on," come on board our ship and we'll help you out."_

"So, they just let you on?" Taiho asked as he raised an eyebrow at his best bud.

"Yeah, but they did a total doctor check-up and interrogation to prove that I was not with the Harvesters," Marcus said as he felt the ghost of pain from his rear,' I hope to never feel anyone do a cavity search on me again,' Marcus thought to himself with a shiver going down his spine," though they did say I have what I think is the Paksis fragment in my left bicep." (He got it when he was engulfed in that light, just go with it, k?)

"I see, I ain't even going to ask why it's there, but all in all, that's cool man," then Taiho felt it was a good time to find out something," Marcus, I was wondering, does your Gundam have the ZERO system?" Taiho asked with a little fear in his voice.

"Yeah, it does, it took me awhile to master it, but I'm good on it. The only way I was able to master it was to go into a state like the SEED mode off of the Seed series," Marcus explained, but then grew little sad," but I was only able to master those modes only after I met…Nagi."

"Hmm? Now that you mention it, the commander of the fleet did mention that name, who is that?" Taiho asked out of pure curiosity.

Marcus then pulled out his wallet, took a picture out and handed it to Taiho. Taiho took it and saw Marcus had his arms around a woman who looked like Lunamaria Hawke off of Gundam Seed Destiny, but she had string strap blue tank top that showed her well built belly and a nice cleavage, a short white skirt that was just above her knees, and blue high heels on her feet. Taiho then noticed a gold ring on her wedding finger," that's Nagi, Nagi Strife…she was my fiancée."

"Was?" Taiho asked as he felt something had gone wrong between the two.

"Yeah," he then took a deep breath and looked his best bud with sadness in his eyes," it was when I was trying to figure out on how to get the ZERO system under my control…"

It had been at least a few months and the fleet couldn't have been happier to have the Gundam pilot with them. Marcus was now in one of the gyms that was on the command ship and was trying to think on what to do to control the ZERO system,' dammit, how the hell am I supposed to get that damn thing under control? If this continues, I won't be able to take on the tougher opponents the Harvesters send at us,' Marcus thought as he continued to punch the punching bag in front of him," dammit, dammit, dammit, DAMMIT," he then punched right through the bag, letting out all the sand that was in it.

"_What did that bag ever do to you?" a feminine voice asked. Marcus groaned and was about to tell the person to fuck off, only to go a little wide eye at the girl on front of him._

'_Lunamaria,' he thought as he looked at the redhead in front of him who had the clothing that mechanics wear, who took care of the fighters and his Gundam. He then shook his head a bit and turned away from her," nothing, I was just getting little pissed off about my situation."_

"_Oh, and what would that be…oh, let me guess, it has to do with that so called ZERO system you have on your, what do you call it, oh yeah, Gundam," she guessed in a cheery voice._

"_Um, yeah," he then turned to her and raised an eyebrow at her," how do you know about that?"_

"_Oh, all of us mechanics have to know about what they take care of, or we can't work properly, besides," she then grew a cute smirk on her face," a lot of us know because you kept on shouting and cursing about having the so called ZERO system when you found out you had it on your Gundam."_

_Marcus then hung his head bit in embarrassment,' they should make that hangar sound proof,' Marcus thought as he remembered when he found out his Gundam had the ZERO system, to say the least, he wasn't happy,' and that thing has been the source to many of my headaches, I almost took out one of the fighters when I went berserk, due to it being turned on,' he then lifted his head to look at the woman in front of him,' she's hella hot.'_

_She noticed him staring and grew a cut smirk on her face," like something you see big guy?" she asked playfully._

_Marcus then notice he was staring and turned away with a blush on his chocolate skinned face. He calmed down a bit and grew his own smirk," and what would you do if I said I did see something I liked?" he asked as he turned to her and saw that she still had that smirk of her own on her face._

"_I'd let you take me out on a date," she answered as she winked at him with cute smile on her face, to which he smiled back at. From then on, the two would always be eating, talking, and even sparring a little with each other, other times would be spent seeing what they could do to help Marcus himself on controlling the ZERO system._

_After a few month's went by, around the time Taiho was having the flashbacks of his life, Marcus was now getting ready for an important date with Nagi," okay Marcus, you can do this, you just have to pop that question, it's not that much big of deal," cue very long pause, he then looked straight at the mirror, put his hands on it and immediately started to shake it left and right," WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING, IT IS A GOD DAMN BIG DEAL. I'M TALKING ABOUT MARRIAGE HERE DAMMIT!!"_

_After that little outburst, he was panting in and out. He then calmed himself down a bit and set his mirror back up straight,' I wonder if this is the right thing to do, I mean, she's just a fictional character,' he then looked at the straightened mirror and grew smile on his face,' what am I thinking, I don't care about that. The hell with that shit, I'm just going to do it anyway, because…' he then looked at the small black box in his right hand,' I love her.'_

"_Hey Marcus-honey," Nagi's said as she surprised Marcus, who fumbled the box in his hand a bit and immediately put it right in his pocket," you ready for our date?" she asked with that cute smile she always had._

"_Shit, you know I am baby," he said with his usual cocky manner as he slinked his arm around her waist, which she let him do as she leaned up against him. They both then walked out with happy smiles on their faces._

_They both sat in a sat in a private room where they both saw a one of moons they pass by on the fleet's patrols. They had both talked about what had been bugging them and what had been going good for them so far. As the date started to come to a close, Marcus put his right hand in his pocket, where the wedding ring was," Nagi?" he said with a little uncertainty in his voice._

"_Hm, what is it Marcus-honey, is something wrong?" she asked as she put her hands on his left hand with a worried look on her face._

"_Oh, it's nothing to be worried about," he said as he shook his head with a happy smile on his face, he then gulped,' this is it,' he said as he psyched himself up," you and I have been dating for almost half a year, and I know it may be a little early to be thinking of something like this," he then saw her eye widen a bit,' she must be getting what I'm saying now,' he thought as he continued to speak," but if it would be anyone, I would like my first to be you," he then got up from his seat as he still held onto her hands with his left hand. He then took out the little black box and flipped it open to show a gold ring with brilliant silver white jewel on it," will you do me the honor of marrying me, Nagi Strife?" he asked with a loving tone in his voice._

_She then started to tear up in the eyes and suddenly embraced him in a fierce hug," yes, yes, I would love to," she then started to cry in his arms with a truly happy smile on her face," I love you Marcus, I love you," she said, which was only muffled a bit since her face was in his chest._

"_I love you too Nagi, I will always love you," he said as he stroke her hair with truly happy smile on his face as well._

_It only had been a month since that day and the two couldn't have been the least bit happier. Marcus was then starting to wonder if he should get his own ship so that he and Nagi could at least have some privacy to themselves,' it would really help, but what can I do, the fleet won't go back to their planet so I can't go get a new ship for myself and more to the point, I ain't got no money for such a thing,' he thought as he shook his head a bit._

_As he finished his thoughts, one of the messengers for the commander came into view," excuse me sir, the commander would like to have a word with you," the messenger said as he stood at attention._

"_Thanks, you can go now and would it hurt for you guys to relax around me?" he asked as he walked passed him, only to met with silence as the messenger went back to his duties as if he was a soldier. Marcus just shook his head a bit," I guess it would," he said as he turned back and walked on ahead to see what the commander wanted._

_When he got there, he saw the commander was deep in a conversation with one of his soldiers," oh, Marcus, how good of you to show up, I have something that might be of importance to you," the commander said as motioned him to come closer._

_Marcus did as he motioned him to," so, what is that you wanted to talk about and what do you mean by something important?" Marcus asked as he walked up to the commander's side._

_The commander then pressed a button to pop up a screen. When Marcus looked at what was on the screen, his eyes went wide," this ship seems to have been out for some time and we want you and a part of our mechanics to salvage, or if possible, repair it and take it under our fleet."_

'_The Eternal,' Marcus thought as he looked at the ship from Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny. Marcus calmed himself a bit and nodded," will do, I'll go prep myself for launch," he said as he turned back to the door and left._

_When he got to the hangar, Marcus spotted Nagi right away, who was getting ready to go with the mechanics that were going to repair or salvage the Eternal. He then crept up behind her and pinched her butt. She 'eeped' and turned around to slap the pervert who did it to her," PERVERT," she called out, only to be stopped as her hand was caught. She opened her eyes to look who had caught her hand and saw it was Marcus," oooh, don't do that Marcus, you almost gave me a heart attack, I thought I was going to get raped or something," she said with a cute pout on her face._

"_Oh, you know if anyone did anything like that to you, I would kill the guy who did that to you about at least a hundred times and then some, right?" he said in a mocking mad face. He then grinned at her at the moment," but since it was me, you should be fine with it…right?"_

"_Wouldn't you like to know," she said with her cute smirk as she winked at him," I hear you're going to be coming along with us, is that true?" she asked, hoping that it was true._

"_Yeah, I am. So, you wanna ride?" he asked as he thumbed to his Gundam._

_She thought of it for a second, but nodded with a smile on her face," sure, I've always wanted to know how it felt like to be in that Gundam of yours," she said as she put a thoughtful look on her face, as if trying to imagine the feel of what it might feel like._

"_Okay, come on," he said as he picked her up in his arms and got a 'eep' from her, as she didn't expect him to suddenly do such a thing. He then ran a bit and jumped up to his Gundam's cockpit._

_They both went to ahead of the mechanics and flew over to the ship. Once there, Marcus looked around and saw where they stationed the mobile suits," weird, it's as if this ship was made for your Gundam, along with others that might be like yours," Nagi said as she looked around the hangar area._

_When he stationed his Gundam on one of the platforms, they both got out of the cockpit and looked around," it looks like this place hasn't been used in a while," Marcus said as he looked at the hangar area, with Nagi nodding her head in agreement._

_They both then went in to look at what the inside looked like, it seemed to have some living quarters, a mess hall, bathing area, and a command deck. All of which seemed to have not been used in quite sometime. As they looked around, the mechanic crew arrived and looked around for what they could repair. Nagi started herself as Marcus kept watch for any Harvest from a window," the ship doesn't seem to be a total loss, if we can do it right, we'll be able to get this baby up and running in no time," she said as she repaired what was on the ship._

"_Good, cause the Gundam is a bit too small for the hangar on the command ship, or any of the ships for that matter," Marcus said as he kept his eyes open for any hostile attacks._

"_So," Nagi started," are you going to ask to have this ship? I know you've been feeling a little cramped with the crew on the command ship," she said as she didn't take her eyes from her work._

"_Yeah," she then stopped at what she was working on and looked at him with a worried look," but I'm going to ask for them to have you be with me on this ship. That's the main reason I want this ship, I want to spend some more alone time with you Nagi," he said as he smiled at her._

_She then got a happy look on her face that he always found cute," I'd like that," she said happily and then went back to her work, all the while keeping a very happy smile on her face._

_Another month later and the ship was now under the ownership of both Marcus and Nagi. The two didn't like the orange base paint that was on it, so they changed it to black and added red and white highlights that made the ship more cool looking. The two had some of the mechanics from the fleet come and keep the ship under good condition and also keep the ammunition on the ship at a good amount, all in all, they lived with each other with the utmost privacy._

_Just as the two were about to have some 'alone' time, there was a call from the commander of the ship. With a unison of groans, Marcus went and opened the channel for the commander to speak through," what's up commander? Do have any idea what time it is?" he asked as he looked at the clock that said one O'clock, not that he could complain since he was going to do some naughty things with his fiancée._

"_Yes, I do know, but I was hoping if you could send Nagi over. The mechanics over here are having trouble with something on the ship and she might have a better insight on what it is," the commander requested as he relaxed in his easy seat._

_Marcus thought of this for a moment but decided to agree with it, the mood was already killed so it wouldn't hurt for her to see what was wrong," sure, she heard what you said just now and is already getting ready, goodbye commander."_

"_Goodbye," he replied as he cut off communications._

_Marcus turned around and saw Nagi putting on her mechanic clothing on and getting ready to leave," you know, we still haven't named this ship?" she then gave warm smile to him as she turned her head to him," I think we should come up with a good name when we have our wedding, what do you think?"_

_Marcus smiled at her and started to think before nodding," sounds like a good idea to me baby," he then went up to her and hugged her. After a minute of them holding each other in the warm embrace, Marcus turned his head a bit to kiss her on the lips," now go and get to work, don't want to be slacking on your work now," he said as he smirked at her._

"_Right," she said as she got out of the hug and walked to the door," I'll see you later Marcus-honey," she said as she left the room._

_Marcus sat on his bed for few minutes before deciding to go workout in the small gym they made in one of the spare rooms. Just as he was about to enter the small gym, he got a call from the commander," what is it commander, something wrong?"_

"_Marcus, the Harvesters are here, Nagi is still out there, hurry!!" the commander said frantically._

"_WHAT?!" he then rushed to the hangar for his Gundam. Once he got there, he didn't give a second thought as he got in and blasted off from the ship that was the Eternal._

_When he got out there, he saw that the Harvesters and the fighters from the Menalos fleet were already fighting. As he looked left and right for his fiancee's space pod, he took out both his saber and attached them, forming the familiar double spear trident in his hands. He spun the weapon in his hand over his head and charged, slicing the cubes left and right with it._

_After about a minute of battling, he finally found her pod, and rushed over to it. But before he could get to it, a stray shot from one of the cubes was coming towards it, so Marcus blasted off towards the pod with all the booster the Gundam had could take. As he got closer, he stretched his right hand toward the pod as the shot got closer and closer. Thankfully, he got there in time to use his beam shield and block the stray._

_Marcus looked from his monitor and saw his fiancée's beautiful face and mouth his name in a loving way,' Nagi,' he thought lovingly. That was until one of the commanding Harvesters shot a spear like attack his way and speared the pod. Marcus looked on in horror at what just happened as he saw his fiancée be burned alive in the pod," Nagi?" he said in disbelieving voice, he then couldn't take and yelled," NO, NAAGGIII!!"_

"_Dammit, I…I just couldn't do it, Nagi," he said out loud, hoping his fiancée heard him; he then started to cry for her._

"_Please, don't cry anymore," he heard, he then looked up to what could be her soul calling out to him._

"_I'm sorry, I couldn't…I couldn't protect you," he said as cried his eyes out for her._

"_Don't cry my love, my feeling will always be with you," her soul then went up to him and she cupped her hand to caress his cheek," now go and help those who need your help," she said as placed her lips to kiss him goodbye._

_After that little vision, his Gundam got out of the smoke of destruction that was from the pod. When he looked up, his dark brown eye were now glowing with the light the Paksis showed with tears still coming from his eyes,' I will…I will live on for you, Nagi,' he thought as he activated the ZERO system and blasted off to destroy the Harvesters who took his loving fiancée._

END OF FLASHBACK 

Taiho would've have asked for him to go into detail of what happened after that, but he felt that Marcus was doing all he could not to break down on him for thinking of his fiancée now," I see," he said sadly,' I know I couldn't take it if Meia was taken from like that,' he then curled his hand up into a fist,' I won't let that happen, ever,' he vowed to himself.

"Yeah, that's basically what has happened so far and that's how I got this little tug boat here as well," Marcus said as he looked down on the table with sorrow in his eyes.

After some moments of silence, Taiho was about to say something, until the alarms went off. They both got up, looked at each other, and nodded, knowing what they both were telling each at that moment,' time to kill some Harvesters.'

Both of them were now in their Gundams, but just before Marcus could get on the launch pad, he felt a hand on his Gundam's shoulder. He looked to see Taiho's Gundam putting his hand on his shoulder," what's up man?"

"I just want you to know, we'll beat these assholes, for you and for her," he said as he patted Angelic Byakko Gundam's shoulder.

"Thanks, but worry about yourself while out there for now, I'll take care of my own revenge," Marcus said as he got up on the launch pad," see ya out there homie," he said before he blasted off to battle.

Taiho shook his head a bit and got on the launch pad himself,' I hope he'll be able to battle properly out there,' he thought before he blasted off himself.

Once he got out there, he saw the fighters shooting down as many Harvesters as they could. He hanged back bit to see if Marcus could battle with straight head against the people who killed his fiancée. He looked to see what he would be fighting and gaped at what was there,' Dark Army Soldiers, Zakus and Goufs from Gundam Seed, and Leos and Virgos from Gundam Wing,' seeing that, he blasted off to take down the mobile suits from Gundam Wing, all the while keeping an eye on Marcus. (Cue in the Strike Freedom them song folks )

Marcus opened his wings and blasted towards two Zakus who were shooting at him, but he dodged the shots and cut the two in the midsection as he passed them and destroyed them. He looked and saw a Gouf shooting its finger beam bullets at him, but all the same he went by the shots and diced the Gouf into pieces as he passed it.

He then saw that two Goufs and two Zakus were closing in on him. So he took out his two hand beam rifles and shot the four in a way a gunslinger would. But he was stopped as two other Goufs used their heat rods to bind his right leg and left hand,' you think you got me assholes,' he thought as he burst his wings open and let out his DRAGOON units to shot them down. Once free, he flew upward and targeted as many enemies as he could.

"Take this," he said as he shot all the enemies down with his DRAGOON units, central beam cannon, two hand beam rifles, and rail beam cannons all at once. After he got that done, he went in for the commanding Harvester. The commanding Harvester tried to take him down with their spear attacks, but he dodged them with relative ease. As soon as he got close enough, he cocked the rail beam cannons and shot two of them down.

He then let his DRAGOON units out again and had them rush in for the remaining commanding Harvesters," STRIKE THEM," he commanded to the units, which they complied by letting out a barrage of beam shots and destroyed the remaining command Harvesters.

As soon as he got that done, he raced off to fight off the Dark Army soldiers," you all will DIE," he called out as he did his combination shot and took down as many as he could. A few were coming up from behind him, but they were cut down as Marcus had his double bladed beam trident out, while creating arc that was going across their chests," you think you can sneak up on me fuckers?" he said as did another quick cut and destroyed them into pieces.

As Marcus took care of Dark Army soldiers and mobile suits from Gundam Seed series, Taiho was fighting against the Harvesters and the mobile suit from Gundam wing. Taiho charged in with his hand beam rifle and shot off four round that took down two Leos and cubes. He then cocked his long rang beam rifle and shot down a bunch of the Leos and Cubes, along with some Virgos that weren't prepared to shield themselves.

But Taiho took care of that problem by letting loose his boomerangs while charging in with his blade beam. The two boomerang went right through the shields the Virgos put up and diced them, while Taiho stabbed one right through the chest and cut upward to cut it in two, he then went passed it and cocked his right hand back," Erupting Burning Finger," he called out as he plunged his burning hand into the torso of one of the Virgos," and now HEAT END," the Virgo then exploded into many pieces of scrap.

"Do they all die SO EASILY?!" they both heard on their communicators. The two then look to see Hibiki dicing the cube Harvesters, and even some of the other mobiles suits, down left and right with his sword. Marcus saw this and was about to call the commander to retreat, but was stopped as Taiho tackled him toward his ship.

"Taiho, what the fuck are you doing?!" Marcus asked angrily as he tried to get out of the Dark Angel Gundam's grasp.

"I'm saving your damn life, you know this has to happen," Taiho said as he tried his best to keep him in his hold.

"I don't give a damn, let me save them," Marcus said as he tried to use more of this strength and help the Menalos fleet," huh? What the hell?" he then saw something creep out from the Harvester flagship.

"What?" he asked as he turned his head a bit to the flagship," huh?!" this surprised even him as he saw a the body a Gundam come out from the front of the flagship…the body of the Dark Gundam. The next thing they both knew, the Dark Gundam released a giant beam the hit the entire Menalos fleet.

"No," Marcus whispered," NOOOO," he said as he stuggled even more out of Taiho's grasp.

"Marcus," he then stopped and looked at Taiho," we need to get Hibiki out of here now, come on, get your head straight," Taiho said as he called out to his fellow Gundam pilot.

Marcus lowered his head a bit as flash of light covered the area, meaning that Hibiki had just now charged the flagship, only to fail in his attack," okay, let's go get him and get him to my ship," he said with sorrow in his eye and blasted off to get Hibiki. Taiho just stood there, wondering if he did the right thing," you do realize it'll take awhile for me to forgive for what you just did, right?" Marcus asked in a monotone type voice.

"Yeah, but you know that this was one thing that we couldn't change, no matter how powerful our Gundams are now," Taiho said in sad tone. He heard Marcus sigh, signifying that he agreed with him, even more so that what they saw meant only one thing…the Dark Gundam has combined with the Harvesters and that they were even more powerful than before.

As soon as the two got to the ship, they put Hibiki's Vanguard on one of the platforms. Taiho hurried over to the cockpit and got his student out of it," whoa, it seems you toughened him up a bit," Marcus commented as he looked at the more muscular Hibiki.

"Yeah, you should have seen how he took care of Rabat man," Taiho said with a smirk on is face.

"Oh yeah, you didn't tell me what happened to you," Marcus said as he paused a bit," care to share?"

"Sure, but let's set a course back the Nirvana, I've got the coordinates in my Gundam," Taiho said as he picked Hibiki gently.

As soon as they made sure the Vanguard pilot was alright, they went to the command center to set the coordinates," alright, all set and ready to go," Marcus said as he punched in the coordinates.

"You know, you mind if I name the ship?" Taiho asked as he felt he might be going over the line to ask such a thing.

Marcus thought of it for a bit, but nodded," naw, I don't mind, I know I can't since it'll feel like I'm cheating Nagi on naming it and you are my best bud, so I don't mind at all," he then raised and eyebrow at Taiho," what name do you got in mind?"

Taiho then took a seat and looked out the window," Immortal Purpose," he said simply.

"Why that name?" Marcus asked as he was confused by the name.

"If we both ever find our purpose for being here, we'll stick to it for the rest of our lives and beyond," he then looked at his best bud straight in the eye," at least, I will."

"You're speaking for both of us then, now," Marcus said as he took the commanding chair," let's go," he said as the newly named ship, Immortal Pupose, launched to get back to the Nirvana," you know in the meantime, tell me what's been going on with you man," Taiho nodded and started his story from the beginning.

Unbeknownst to the two, a ship was tailing them in the darkness," well, well, it seems we have a new player in the game," a voice said that revealed to be Rabat," I wonder what is in store for that ship now," he said to himself as he tailed the ship from the darkness.

**A/N:** Well, that's CH.11, hope you guys liked Marcus story on how he got there, if not, I may just revise later some other time. Anyways, I put the enemy mobile suits to make it more interesting for our two Gundam pilots. Well, if anything else, PM me, or post it on the reviews, ja ne.

ShadowDragonGX


	12. AWAKENING PART 1

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Vandread or any of the three Gundam series I have featured on here, but you already know what I do own.

AWAKENING PART 1

After Marcus had heard Taiho's story, they both decided to go to bed for the rest of the way. As they both slept, they both felt something was going to go wrong when they got there.

On the Nirvana, Meia could only work on making new formations to get her mind out of worrying for her boyfriend,' I hope he's safe,' she thought as she fingered the cross around her neck for a bit.

"Worried about Taiho?" a voice asked right behind her, she then turned to see Barnette with worried look on her face.

"N-no, I was just getting some formations made, we'll need some strategies to fight against this new threat," she answered as she composed herself, she would not let her subordinates and friends see that she was getting distracted or that she was worried.

Barnette shook her head a bit and walked up to her," you don't have to hide it," she then put her hand on her shoulder," it's not that hard to see you're worried about him."

She then turned away from her with a light blush on her cheeks," is it that obvious?" she asked in a miffed voice.

"Hey, that's what happens when someone falls in love with someone, right? You worry about that one you love, that alone lets the two know they truly cherish each other," she said as she gave reassuring smile.

Meia just shook her head a bit and gave a slight smirk," since when did you become philosophical?" she asked as she raised a blue eyebrow at her.

Barnette just shrugged and went to walk out the room," don't worry, he'll be here soon enough," she then stopped at the door and looked over her shoulder," call it a woman's intuition," she said as she walked out.

Meia just took a deep breath and sat back down to figure out new formations for the Dread teams and the two man like mechs the two males pilot.

Back on the Immortal Purpose, Taiho and Marcus woke back up and went to the mess hall to fix themselves some breakfast," man, I still can't believe you hooked up with Meia man. I wonder how she looks like in person," Marcus said as he ate some cereal.

Taiho didn't feel the need to warn his best bud to lay off his girl, since Marcus was still mourning a bit for his fiancée,' hopefully he'll get over it when this is all over,' Taiho thought as he ate some of his own cereal," trust me, it wasn't easy to deal with her at first. She was just like in the anime man, strong, prideful, and really stubborn, but damn fine at the same time. She's still strong, prideful and stubborn, but she has come to rely on her friends and looks at males in a different way, as does the rest of the ship," Taiho said as he kept on eating.

Nodding his head in relief, Marcus didn't want to be thrown right in a cell when he got to the Nirvana. But after hearing that Barnette had calmed down from being a feminist and that Taiho had defused the key elements that started the 'man'-hunt, he was now more than willing to see the Vandread main characters up close," before I got in here, I checked up on Hibiki, the guy still hasn't woke up," Marcus said as he drank some orange juice from his glass.

"You know that he only wakes up when he gets back to the Nirvana. Anyways, we need to be prepared for the worse now that the mobile suits from the other Gundam series have come into this little game of ours," Taiho said as he finished eating his breakfast.

"Yeah, I didn't expect them to do that when you got there, but I was just too caught up in my fighting that I didn't even care about it," Marcus said as he remembered back to the fight before they left. He then took the plates they just had eaten out of and put them in the sink.

"Come on, let's go see how far we've gotten to arriving on the Nirvana," Taiho said as he got up and walked over the command bridge with Marcus not that far behind him.

When they got there, the saw out the window to see the distant sight of a blue ship, the Nirvana," looks like we woke up just in time to see them now," Marcus commented as he went to sit on the command chair. He then saw they were being called," we're being called by them," he then grew little smirk," looks like it's time we let them know you and Hibiki are okay," he said as he pressed the button to open the channel and saw the face of an old woman on the vid screen.

"This is the Minerva (cover up name, which is why she chose it as a secondary name), hello there young man, what business do you have here?" she asked in a business like tone, not wanting to sound too aggressive to someone who might be a simple civilian.

"Immortal Purpose here, I'm here to drop off something that belongs to one of your crew members. Does the name Meia ring any bells?" he asked in a mock evil tone. Magno only gave a glare at him and was about to say something until someone interrupted the both of them.

"WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN?" two voices said at the same time, but from each of their ships, with Taiho saying that to Marcus and Meia saying that to her captain. They both got in the vid screens and saw each other," OH," they said at the same time as they felt a little embarrassed at what just happened.

"Well I guess it won't do to act like I just did," Marcus said with a smirk on his face as he shook his head. He then directed that smirk to Magno," the names Marcus Kensinton, Taiho's best bud and closest thing he has to a brother, nice to meet ya'll," he said he waved at everyone on the command deck on the Nirvana, who returned the wave bit, a little reluctantly to do it to a male.

"I see, is this true Taiho?" Magno asked as the Dark Angel Gundam pilot's face came up to the screen.

He nodded and gave a big smile to them," yup, he's a good guy. Anyways, we'll all be over there in a second, but get Dita, Hibiki was knocked out from the an attack the Harvesters made when we found Marcus," he said as his face quickly grew serious.

She nodded as she told them to open the hangars for them to come in. When she looked up, she was shocked, along with everyone else, to see another mech like Taiho's Gundam, only it was white with blue jagged marks that gave off the feeling of a tiger with wings on its back,' another thing you'll have to explain to me Taiho,' Magno thought as she got up to got too the meeting room.

When they got on board, the two, along with Hibiki on Marcus's shoulder, came down to see the crew waiting for them with smiles on their faces. Taiho only had a second until he was enveloped in a hug. He as surprised for a minute, but regained his senses to see that it was Meia," what's up Meia? You act like I've been gone for at least a lifetime," Tahio said with a mocking ignorance in his tone.

She then punched him a bit in the arm," you know how much I was worried about you? I was…" but she cut herself off as she quickly recomposed herself and heard a slight giggle coming from the women behind her.

'And you said you weren't worried,' Barnette thought as she looked at her leader,' still as stubborn as ever to say what you mean,' she then looked at the new male on the ship,' huh? Who's that?' she thought as she looked at the black male.

"Yeah, hehehe, sorry about that," Taiho said as he scratched the back of his head a bit. He then looked to see Marcus handing over Hibiki over to Dita's worrying arms," well girls, let me introduce you to my best bud and the closest thing I have to a brother," he said as he got Marcus's attention and shoved him in front of everyone," his name is Marcus Kensington."

"I can introduce myself, thank you," Marcus snapped back as he shrugged off Taiho's hand, who only chuckled a bit at his friends action," anyways, like he said, the name is Marcus Kensington, I come from the same planet, Gaia, as he does and we both pilot Gundams, as you can see here," Marcus said as he thumbed towards his Gundam. After that, he greeted everyone individually, until he came up to Barnette.

"Nice to meet you Marcus, the names Barnette Orangello," she said with a smile as she extended her hand to him.

"Nice to meet you too," he said as he shook her hand, and started to look her over,' man, she's more hotter than you see on the anime,' he thought as he looked at her, only to get a flash memory of his fiancé, which made him look sad.

"Is something wrong?" she asked as she looked at his saddened look.

Broken from his thoughts of sadness, he shook his head and put a fake smirk on," I'm good, just thought of something bad is all," he said as he walked passed her with his hat shadowing his eyes," see ya later Barnette," he said as he walked ahead.

'Something must have happened out there to have him look like that,' she thought as she looked at the retreating form of Marcus. She wasn't the least bit fooled by his fake smirk and attitude, she could tell something was wrong and that it was something that left a scar in his heart somewhere.

"Hey Taiho, are we going to go and talk to that old lady now or what?" Marcus asked as he interrupted a conversation between the couple.

"Yeah, me and Meia were just discussing on what happened out there," he then took her hand in his," come one, let's go you two, we have a meeting to get to," Taiho said as he lead Meia in hand to the meeting room with Marcus following close by.

But they weren't able to get a step further as Hibiki woke up," THERE'S NO TIME TO BE LYING AROUND LIKE THIS," he called out as he rush towards the door and report to the old lady. He was then stopped by his sensei's body," Taiho, we have to hurry and tell the old lady about this," he said in a frantic voice.

"Calm down, we'll tell her, but with cool head," he then turned his back to him and started to walk away," come on, follow us and stay calm," he said simply without turning his head to him. Hibiki could hardly restrain himself, but did so under the order of his sensei.

When the four got there, Taiho and Marcus noticed that Bart was discussing things with the bridge crew,' must be trying to get some trust from them,' Taiho thought as he looked at the babbling mouth that Bart has and the women who reluctantly listened to his ridiculous stories. He then went up to the old lady Magno, who was watching the scene from her command chair," reporting on our findings captain," he said as he stood at a sort of an attention in front of her.

"Oh, good to see you came back in one piece you two," she said with a smile, but then notice the black male beside Taiho," and you must be Marcus, nice to meet you in person, young man."

"Same here," he replied simply.

"Now, what is it that you found out there, besides your friend here," Magno said with a serious face and tone. Taiho nodded a bit and told her of what happened when they found the Menalos fleet and what happened when he found Marcus. Magno only sighed deeply and looked at Marcus with sad eyes," I'm sorry for what has happened with your comrades," she said with sorrow in her voice.

"Don't be, they fought to the bitter end, fighting for what they believed in. But I'll continue to fight for them…and for Nagi," Marcus replied as he whispered under his breath at the last saying.

Magno nodded her head and felt a little admiration for the new Gundam pilot. She then turned to the Gundam pilot that had been with them the longest," now then, you say they now have machines that come from your planet?" Magno asked as she felt a little fear of fighting something that might be just as good as the two machines the Gundam pilots use.

"Yes, so we'll need to prepare for the fight of our lives if they send the kind of force they did in our last battle," Taiho answered as he referred to the battle he and Marcus fought in. Taiho then sighed a bit," let's just hope they don't."

"Indeed," she said simply before shaking her head a bit," I believe you have a recording of the battle?" she asked as she hoped to have an upper hand on the new type of enemies they'll face.

"Yes, and I see where you're going with this," he answered as he turned to Meia," come on Meia, we have some formations and strategies to come up with," he said as she nodded to him and followed him to the room they make the formations.

"And what the hell am I supposed to do?" Marcus called out as he felt a little bit out of the loop.

"I don't know, uuuhh, go get something to eat," he suggested only to get a bit of a glare," well just do what you want to do man, I've got to go," he said before he turned back to leave.

Marcus only sighed and turned his attention to the old lady in front of him and then came up with an idea," hey captain, you mind if you could lend some of your crew to my ship? I can take care of the ship myself, but we'll need it for the upcoming battle, so we'll need a crew on it," Marcus said as he pointed to his ship that was in view of the Nirvana.

Magno was about to say no, but then thought about for a bit,' it would be good to have some back up alongside us, and besides…' she then took a glance at the ship that was in view,' that ship seems quite impressive, so it would be a waste to not integrate it into our own fleet of pirate ships back home,' she then took a look at Marcus before nodding," sure, we'll get a few of our people over to it and have it man the command center on it for you."

"Thanks, with this, we'll be more than ready for the upcoming battle," Marcus said before he got up to leave. But just as he was about to leave, he stopped at the door," oh, do you know where I can go and use the restroom?" he asked as he felt the urge to take a whiz.

"Sure, its down the hall, to your right," she answered as he nodded in thanks before leaving.

'Wooh, man, I'm finally getting to meet the main characters of the Vandread series,' Marcus thought as he walked towards the restroom,' by now the ship should be overrunning with women trying to take us both down, good thing Taiho took care of that,' he thought happily relieved, before going into the bathroom. What he didn't notice was that the sign showed to be the women's shower area.

Barnette was now humming happily in the shower, thinking back on all that happened that day,' looks like we have a new male on the ship, strangely, I don't feel that mad at that. In fact, it feels good too have another on the ship,' she thought as she smiled with her eyes closed,' he is cute though,' she thought before she heard a noise behind her. She opened her eyes and looked back to only go wide eyed as she looked at the surprise look on Marcus's face.

"Barnette, I was, I just, eh," Marcus stuttered as he tried to defend himself, but she was not listening as now she could only she red.

With a red aura going around her, she then, out of nowhere, pulled out a mallet and said," PERVERT," and sent Marcus flying out the door and hitting the hall with his whole front body getting implanted into it. After a minute passed, he fell down with swirly eyes on his face and a bit of blood coming down his nose.

Taiho and Meia were now watching the video recording the Dark Angel Gundam and the Angelic Byakko Gundam had on the mobile suits from the other series, along with the part of when the body of the Dark Gundam came out of the Harvester flagship," so that's the Dark Gundam?" she asked with a little fear in her voice as she looked and saw Taiho nod,' just what are we up against now?' she thought as she looked at the recorded battle.

Taiho only sighed; he could feel the doubt coming from Meia. So he got up from his seat and hugged her from behind. He heard her gasp a bit, meaning that she didn't expect it, only to relax and rest her head in his chest," don't worry, we'll beat that damn thing, and I'll protect you," he said softly and tightened the hug a bit to comfort her.

She leaned her head back a bit more and looked up at him with a smile," thank you Taiho, and I'll always protect you too," she said as she tip toed to his face as he leaned in towards her and kissed each other. After a few moments in that position of kissing, they got out of the embrace and went to go and get ready for the battle up ahead.

When they were about to get to the bridge to inform the old lady of what they could do, they came upon Marcus's knocked out body. Deciding to be the one when he woke up, he looked to Meia," I'll stay here and see what happened, you go on ahead and tell her what plans we've come up with," she nodded and went on ahead to the bridge.

A few moments passed and Marcus started to come to, as that happened, Barnette came out of the door with dried, but still wet looking green hair. When she saw Taiho, she gave him a smile," oh, hi Taiho, what are you doing here?" she asked, but he answered as he moved over and pointed to Marcus," oh," she simply said as she scratched the back of her head a bit nervously,' I didn't hit him that hard, did I?'

"Aaah, did anyone get the look of the Gundam that hit me?" Marcus asked to no one in particular as he tried to get up.

'Okay, maybe I did hit him that hard,' she thought as she looked at the giant bruised spot on Marcus's head. He then looked up and glared a bit at the woman in front of him.

"What the hell did you do that for you damn uncute tomboy," he called out as he rubbed the back of his head. (if you don't know where I got this, think Ranma ½)

"What did you call me?" she asked, as she got ready to pound the guy for calling her that.

"Umm," Taiho said, but the two didn't notice as they continued to argue.

"Did I stutter, no, I didn't," he said as he got up and got in her face.

"Umm," Taiho said again, but only a little quieter.

"You damn jerk," she said, as she got ready to pull out her 'out-of-nowhere' mallet.

"Umm," Taiho said a bit quieter, but this time they heard him and snapped their heads to him.

"WHAT?!" they both asked with big heads and blank eyes that had big flames coming out from them. When they said that, they looked back at each other to glare at each other again with lightning going in between them.

"Now, now, let's calm down guys," Taiho said as he sweated bit at the heat going in between the two,' what the hell happened to make them go like this,' Taiho wondered as he looked back and forth between the two.

Barnette just turned around with a her arms crossed with a scoff, while Marcus just turned his head a bit and put his hands in his pockets as he snorted a bit at the same time," WHATEVER," they said at the same time and glanced at the corner of their eyes to lightning glare at each other again.

Taiho just sighed and pushed his friend down towards the hangar," come on you, we have some preparations to get done on the Immortal Purpose," he said as he continued to push Marcus, who was protesting him to stop pushing. Taiho then turned his head a bit to Barnette as he did," you go on ahead and get your own preparations done, there is a storm coming and you don't want to come unprepared," Taiho said as he and Marcus disappeared as they rounded the corner.

When they both were about to leave, they saw Hibiki standing near his Vanguard with a far off look on his face," you go on ahead to the Immortal Purpose, I need to talk to him," Taiho said to Marcus, who just nodded and went to his Gundam. Taiho then walked over to his supposed student and stood beside him, waiting for him to acknowledge he was there.

It took a few moments before he talked though," do people really die that easily sensei?" Hibiki asked, as he didn't take his eyes off his Vanguard.

"Yeah, they do," Taiho answered with a stern face and turned to him," and so can we unless you get your head in the game and get ready to fight against the Harvesters."

Hibiki just looked down with a saddened look on his face," but…"

"Do you want to have the person who gave you that cloth die in vain," Tahio interrupted as he pointed to the blue and navy striped cloth on Hibiki's arm, where it was injured.

"What?" he asked in scared voice.

"I'm sure the person who gave you that, wanted you to live and fight without regrets, but that's just me," he then turned back to leave," see later Hibiki," Taiho said as he went to his Gundam.

After Taiho left, it took a few moment for Hibiki to lift his head and look at his Vanguard's head,' Seran, I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, but I'll live and prove my existence and get revenge on those who took your life,' he thought as a look of determination came upon his face.

When Marcus arrived on the Immortal Purpose, he could see the women were already fast at work on getting the weapons systems and anything else online for the upcoming battle. He even had to dodge the mechanics that were going to push him aside to make sure his Gundam was in good condition.

"Looks like the ship is under their control," Marcus heard as he turned to see Taiho leaning up against the wall with a smirk on his face," how about we see how the bridge is doing?" he offered.

"Yeah, sure," he shrugged as they both left to go how the bridge was doing. Along the way, the could see the a lot of the women going in and out of the rooms to make sure everything was under good conditions," man, I didn't think this ship would get so crowded," Marcus said as he barely dodged a girl rushing past him.

"That is what happens when a situation like this occurs," Taiho said as they opened the door to the bridge. But as soon as they got in, their mouths hit the floor and go wide eyed at who was going to be at the command chair of the ship," you're going to be commanding the ship…" the chair then turned to reveal woman with glasses and a mechanics suit,"…Parfet."

"Yup, who else is going to be able to decipher what's what around here," she said as she felt pride in saying that.

They both shook their heads at her for a bit," oh well, at least we know it will be in good hands…right?" Marcus hesitantly asked his friend, who just nodded with a reassuring smirk," oh good," he felt relieved, because he didn't want the one memory he had of Nagi to be destroyed, not now.

Just then, the alarms went off as they were hailed by the Nirvana. Parfet quickly opened the channel and Magno's old face came up on the screen," the enemies are here," she said simply as the screen turned to the Harvester flagship advancing towards them.

"We're heading out, Parfet, tell them we'll be out there," Taiho commanded as he and Marcus left to go and see what they could do. As soon as they left, Parfet went over to the communicator to tell them what Taiho just commanded.

Once in the hangar, Marcus and Taiho get in their Gundams and step up to the launch pad," Marcus Kensinton, Angelic Byakko, LET'S DO IT," he said as he launched from the hangar.

"Taiho Lobo, Dark Angel, LAUNCHING," Taiho called out as he too blasted off from the hangar of Immortal Purpose.

"So you two finally show up," Jura said over the communicator as Taiho made his way over to Meia side and Marcus over to Barnette's side, albeit a little reluctantly," can we win?" she asked as she looked at the incoming enemies.

There was a long pause as Taiho looked at the enemies and felt a little relieved it was just the Dark Army soldiers this time," if we don't lose hope, protect those precious to us, and continue to believe ourselves that we'll survive this, I know we can win," Taiho said to her and everyone else.

Marcus's face then came up on his monitor," that was corny as hell, and you know it," he whispered before turning off communications. Taiho's eyebrow twitched a bit and was ready to tell him off, but he stopped himself as he looked ahead.

"Jura, you handle the A team, Barnette, you handle the B team," Meia commanded as she kept her sight on the enemies ahead," Taiho, you take care of commanding Marcus and Hibiki in your mechs, understood?"

"YES MA'AM," the three said in understanding.

Taiho then notice they were being hailed by the flagship, but it couldn't be understood since it was all just data," we're getting a message from them…attention, you have no reason to exist other than parts to be used by us. We are messenger from the planet Earth; you are allowed to live only as provisions for the Earth's future. You must follow your destiny; the act of denying the future to come is against the order of the Earth. If that is so, the only alternative is…complete destruction," Taiho then took breath from all the talking," well, that bit of news is comforting," he said sarcastically.

"Immortal Purpose, get ready for combat," Marcus called out to his ship and got a 'yes sir' from the women on board.

"Alright, everyone knows what to do, right?" Taiho asked as he got a confirmation from everyone," okay…COMMENCE ATTACK," he called out as they all blasted off to take down the enemies.

Marcus started off the attack by doing his combination shot and took down a vast amount of enemies. Even though everyone was engaging the enemy, they couldn't help but marvel at all the shots and power behind them. Marcus then went in and dodged shot from four dark soldier that were shooting him, but he took them out as if he were a gunslinger with his twin hand beam rifles.

Taiho came from above and slashed through two Dark Army soldiers in one blow. He then took one down that was sneaking beside him and decapitated it. He the noticed that some shots were being fire at him, so he dodged them and cut the attacker in an X pattern and left it in four pieces.

Hibiki slashed one cube down the middle and jumped back before it exploded," is there no end to these guys?" he asked himself as he looked at the see of enemies before them, he then thought back to the woman named Seran," I'll destroy you, every last ONE OF YOU," he called out as he dashed ahead to destroy them.

Meia was now being chased down by two dark soldiers that were firing at her,' that's it, keep chasing,' she thought at the moment,' NOW,' she then pulled up quickly and went behind them, she then fire her laser and took the two of them down," don't underestimate me because I'm woman," she said out loud to them, daring them to come at her.

Barnette was weaving in and out of enemies while shooting off her missiles, she then caught a glimpse of a cube Harvester coming up behind Jura," oh no you don't," she called out as she dashed ahead towards the enemy and shot a missile while firing her Dread's machine guns to take down the enemies on the way. When it got shot down, she got a happy smile from her best friend and gave her a thumbs up.

None of the five had noticed that each of their right hands faintly glowed for a few short intervals as they continued to fight.

A few more minutes into the battle and it seemed they had not made any progress at all, not to mention the fact that the Nirvana, along with the Immortal Purpose, was being pulled toward the gas planet that can crush them in mere seconds, if Bart wasn't and have the shield up, and it was a good thing that the Immortal Purpose had its own shields. Even so, things weren't looking good.

Taiho backed off as he put his blade beam back on his back. Hibiki, at that moment, appeared beside, panting for air from the constant battling," how many are there?" he asked his sensei for once.

"Hibiki, there's no use fighting them one on one," Taiho replied as he stood side by side with his student, a thought then struck him," hey Hibiki, why don't we show they the results of our training, we'll use THAT move," Taiho hinted as he got ready.

"Right," Hibiki smirked as he caught on quick," CHOKYU," he called out as he got in a crane stance, as if he took it off the karate kid movie.

"HOAW," Taiho called out as well as he got in a low stance.

"**DEN-EIDAN**," they both called out as they stood in their stances. But then Taiho was enveloped in a glowing energy ball that swirled around him in a pink, with orange hints in it," Hibiki, launch me," Taiho said as his Gundam's head sticked out of the energy ball.

"YES SIR," he complied as he made a hand motion as if he was doing a Hadoken off of Street Fighter and launched Taiho straight at the enemy. As he made contact with them, he plowed right through a great number of them and destroyed them.

At the end of his attack, he lifted up into the air (still space of course) and came out of the energy and made a flying kick stance in the air," IGNITE," he called out as a dome of explosion occurred in the path he made.

"Meia, let's combine now," Taiho called out as and only got her charging at him as an answer. A light appeared and out of that light appeared Wing Zero. The two then blasted off and cocked the beam rifle and shot it. The giant beam took out all that was in its path. Not satisfied by this, the two charge in the middle of a large group and split the beam rifle in two, aim and fire a wide arc of the beam rifle's, well, beam.

Everyone (the ones that had their hands glowed) sensed something and looked to see something forming in front of the Harvester flagship. A flame then appeared, and out of that flame came the three Fakedreads of the combinations Hibiki makes with the three women. But that wasn't the only thing that formed out that flame; a dark mobile suit appeared with red wing on its back, black horns coming out of it head, and a dark black body that had red hints on it.

Only Taiho and Marcus knew what this mech was and thought of only one thing,' Master Gundam,' they both thought as they looked at the Undefeated of the East's Gundam. The two were now getting worried about what would happen now.

Taiho quickly disengaged the Wing Zero combination at that moment," what, Taiho, what are you doing?" she asked as she felt a little dazed by the sudden action.

"Go and retreat back to the Nirvana Meia," she was about to protest, but he cut her off," just do as I say and go," he snapped which stunned the blue hair woman, who only reluctantly nodded and blasted off.

She looked back with a sad look on her face,' please, come back to me safely,' she thought as she went back to retreating.

Marcus then appeared behind him," I got Hibiki to go back," he said as he stared at the four mech in front of the two," I know we can take the Fakedreads, but what about the Master Gundam?" he asked, hoping to get some comfort from his best bud.

"Honestly, I don't know, we're talking about Master Asia's Master Gundam here, so our chances might not be that good," Taiho answered as he got a grave look on his face.

As he said that, the three of the mechs went to go and take care of the Dreads that take on their original forms, leaving two Gundam pilots to face off against the Master Gundam.

"Hahahaha, I didn't expect to fight some brats here," said a two toned voice of Master Asia.

"You can talk?!" Marcus asked as if it was the craziest thing ever.

"Yes, but I am not the original you could say, but enough of that," he then pointed to the two with his clawed like hand," which one of you will be my opponent?"

They both looked at each other for a minute before shrugging at him," we not going to play your game Master Gundam, if you want to fight one of us, you'll fight both of us," Marcus said as he cracked his knuckles.

The Master Gundam just shook his head a bit before disappearing," then I guess I should finish this, right here and now," his voice said from behind them. They turned, only to have Taiho kneed in the gut and Marcus uppercut in the stomach. He then took out his cloth and tied both of them at each end. He then took the middle of it and started to spin them around.

"AHH," they both yelled out in pain as the cloth tightened and started to crush them as they wirled around. But they were both saved as Hibiki surprised the Master Gundam by cutting off the cloth with his blade.

"Damn that Undeafeated of the East," Marcus said as he clutched his side.

Hibiki caught the title and glared at the Master Gundam," Undefeated of the East, if you want a challenge, come fight with me," he called out as he got ready to fight the Gundam.

The Master Gundam only threw his head back in laughter as he looked at the small Vanguard," you amuse me kid, tell me your name, all of you," he demanded as he looked at the three.

"Marcus Kensington," the Angelic Byakko Gundam pilot said as he got up and stood on Taiho's right side.

"Taiho Lobo," the Dark Angel pilot said as he too got up and joined his friends.

"Hibiki Tokai," the Vanguard pilot said as he stood on Taiho's left side.

The Master Gundam looked at each of them individually and did a bit of an evil chuckle," I look forward to our next encounter, until then, you three are on borrowed time," he said as he started to disappear in the shadows of space.

"Wait," Tiaho called out, only to have the Master Gundam disappear at that moment.

"Should we pursue him sensei," Hibiki asked as he looked at the spot the Master Gundam was at.

" No, we have to go back to the Nirvana, NOW," he said as he turned back. But with one final look, he couldn't help but worry,' this just got a little harder.'

**A/N:** Well, that CH.12. Hope you guys liked it and I'm working on part 2 right now. If you guys want to know anything else, you know what to do, ja ne.

ShadowDragonGX


	13. AWAKENING PART 2

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Vandread or any of the three Gundam series introduced on this.

AWAKENING PART 2

"All Dreads, we'll follow the Nirvana and wait for the enemy on the planet's surface, watch out for their fire while we're retreating," Meia commanded to the Dread teams as she got a 'Roger' from everyone.

"Meia, on your right," Barnette called to warn her just in time as Fakedread Meia appeared before Meia in a flash of speed. As the Fakedreads continued to fight part of their counterparts, the Nirvana and Immortal Purpose were being sucked into the gas like planet.

As they drew closer, Meia saw two of Fakedread showing their backs to her, so she went in to shoot them down. But the Fakedread Jura put up its shields and blocked the lasers. Despite that, she continued to fire until her counterpart combination came to block her path and was about to clip her wings off and leave her injured,' crap,' was all she could think of before the Fakedread was about to take action.

Fortunately for her, help came to the rescue," oh no you don't," a familiar voice called out as from out of nowhere, a dark mech flew in with its right hand cocked back," ERUPTING BURNING FINGER," the voice called out as the mech plunged it burning hand into the body of the Fakedread," and now, HEAT END," he called once again as the Fakedread exploded into pieces.

'Huh?' was she could think of as she regained her senses a bit.

"I did vow that I'd always protect you…" a vid screen popped up to show none other than Taiho and his Dark Angel Gundam, all the while he carried a smile that showed he meant what he said and would always keep that vow.

"You did, didn't you?" she stated, more than questioned and smiled as she flew passed him," come on, we have to get to the Nirvana," she called out as she flew ahead, but couldn't help but smile warmly now,' you're still alive and that's all I can ask for,' she thought as she continued to back to Nirvana.

"Right," he then followed her league, but couldn't help but think of how dire the situation became,' with the Master Gundam in this, does this mean that the Four Heavenly Kings are in this mess too. If so, then our fight just got a lot harder,' Taiho thought, but kept a determined look on his face,' but that won't stop me from destroying them and protecting my friends and comrades. I, no, we will stop them, no matter what,' he thought as he followed his leader and girlfriend.

Meanwhile, Barnette was having a hard time with the Harvester and Dark Army Soldiers. As she kept using the machine gun on her Dread, she sent a volley of Missiles to keep the enemies back,' how many do I have to take down for me to make a path to the Nirvana,' she thought as she continued to back away and fire at the enemy, all the while trying to look for an opening that would let her retreat back to the ship.

She was about to go for one when a shadow cast itself over head; when she looked to see what it was, she froze as she looked at the mechanical blood shot eye of a Dark Army Soldier as it raised its club like rifle to smash her Dread,' help,' she called out in her thoughts, hoping that someone would come to her rescue just in time.

Fortunately for her, like Meia, fate seemed to have heard her cry for help," Cyclone Punch," a familiar voice called out as a blue tornado drilled right through the Dark Army Soldier's head and rendered its body useless. She was about to thank the person who helped her, but the voice made a comment that flared up her anger," I didn't think a tomboy like you would need help."

"What…did…you…say?" she asked in a dangerously slow tone as she turned her head a bit slowly as well. But then was surprised to see who had saved her was none other then Marcus and his Gundam," hmph, whatever," she said to him as she blasted off, but couldn't help but feel thankful that he had saved her.

"A simple thank you would have sufficed," Marcus said as he followed closed behind in his Gundam. He then took a quick glance behind him as he saw the countless Dark Army Soldier and Harvester enemies,' this has gone way out proportion, I hope we can make it out of this,' Marcus hoped as he and Barnette retreated back to the Nirvana.

"Mr. Alien, Help!" Dita called out as she tried to shoot down three Dark Army Soldiers. Just as one got close enough to club her, a familiar blade went through its midsection.

"I won't let you," Hibiki said as he pulled the sword and spun around to slash it through the midsection, leaving it in three pieces that exploded. Hibiki then turned blasted towards the remaining two," I'll destroy all of you, once for all," he said as he dodged their fire and quickly slashed through them. Once they exploded, he turned his attention to the redhead," hey, you alright?" he asked as he backed away towards the Nirvana.

"Yes," she answered as her face came up on his screen and quickly turned that smile she always had on," thank you Mr. Alien."

Blushing a bit at her thanks and face, he turned his head a bit to not let her see it," yeah, whatever, let's just go back," he said before he turned and blasted towards the Nirvana.

"Right behind you Mr. Alien," she said as she followed close behind the short navy haired man.

As they closed in that gas planet, they form up with the other four. Taiho's voice then came up on their communicators," everyone alright?" he asked as he kept close to Meia's Dread.

"YEAH," everyone said in unison as they kept on their course.

"Good," he then turned his attention to his student," Hibiki, combine with Jura and put up a shield for us so that we can pass through safely," he commanded as he saw the Nirvana and Immortal Purpose put up their shields and entered the gas planet.

"Yes sensei," he complied he combined with Jura to make Vandread Jura. Not a moment sooner did they put up the shield as they entered the gas planet's atmosphere, with the enemy not far behind. As they all enter, the only one to be crushed was a Dark Army soldier and Harvester command ship.

"Can't handle the fire, stay out of the kitchen guys," Marcus taunted as they all head towards their ships, which were forming a giant shield as they had connected each other's shields to do so.

As they enter the shield, the two Gundam pilots separate from the group to put their mechs back on the Immortal Purpose. Once they did, they got on ship along with Parfet, as she had gotten communications that something was going on with the Paksis.

When they entered, Taiho saw Hibiki in front of his Vanguard, typing out plans on Pyoro," hey Marcus, you go on ahead and see how everyone's doing," Taiho said to his best bud," I'm going to see what I can do to help out our little friend here," he then walked towards Hibiki, leaving Marcus in the middle of the hangar, but he just shrugged and left to do what Taiho asked him to do.

Right when Taiho got up to the catwalk Hibiki was on, he sneezed real hard Pyoro," that's disgusting," the little robot said as he got drenched in saliva.

"Oh shut up," he snapped back as he typed on the little bots keyboard," how about this, can we do it?" he asked as Pyoro calculated his plan.

"Ask all you want, it's impossible," Pyoro says in a tired voice.

"But why not?" he asks in annoyed tone.

"Although it is true that this planet is about to turn into a star, it would be impossible to carry out this mission all by yourself," Pyoro explains with tired look in his digital eyes.

"Okay, what about this then?" he asks as he types a button to do an alteration, only to get a negative from little bot," okay then, let me think."

"'Sigh', humans," Pyoro says in the same tired voice.

"Trying to think of a plan without any of us involved?" Taiho asks as he made his presence known with scowl on his face.

Hibiki gets a bit startle and looks down a bit, away from his sensei," I want to do this myself. I don't want to get any of you hurt," he then starts to look towards Pyoro with sad look in his eyes," I don't want any of you to die like Seran."

Taiho just sighs and puts a comforting hand on his shoulder," but if you don't let us experience this level of battle, what's say will happen when we're not prepared to fight stronger enemies," Hibiki then starts to look at Taiho from the corner of his eyes," we need to continue to fight and learn from these experiences, that is about the only way to prepare ourselves for the more harder trials up ahead in our journey."

Hibiki then starts to think on his before nodding a bit with smile on his face," I guess you're right, but…" he then looks at the plans he just made on Pyoro," just how are we going to survive this?" he asks as he looked at the odds.

"Well, only one way," he then sat next to Hibiki and started to look over the plans," let's start to brain storm on this before the others come, okay?" he asks as he got a nod from Hibiki and started to discuss on how to make their plans work.

As they plan, Marcus made his way to the doctors and see how everyone was doing. Once he got inside, he saw Duero looking over Barnette's and Meia's conditions. Once he was done, he made his presence known," yo guys, how's everyone doing?"

"The two of them are stable to fight," the doctor then looks to Marcus," how are you? Are you feeling anything that is bothering you?"

"No, I'm good," he then looked at the women's and noted one thing, they seemed to be depressed about the situation,' I guess their feeling down about how the battle is going and that the Paksis seems a bit unstable,' Marcus thought as he remembered how the ship was doing from anime series.

"Doctor," a voice called out, only to reveal Dita with a sad look on her face," we need some kind of medicine to make everyone cheerful again."

"I understand how you feel, but I don't think medicine is the solution to our problems," the doctor said in a cool tone and face, but inside, he felt the same kind of depression going on.

"Then what is? Everyone's saying there's no hope for us. They're saying were doomed," she replied back in a frantic voice, she just couldn't believe how easily the moral on the ship was going down so fast.

"That's right, it's all over. We're all about to die," Paiway blurted out as she voiced her fears. But just as she was about to continue, Marcus cut her off.

"Would you all look yourselves," he snapped as he felt he needed to get their heads straight," one moment of defeat and you all just shrivel up in this pathetic mess? What kind of pirates?" he asked as he looked at the women in the room who turned from him," so you guys lost a battle just now, but look," he then went to the monitor and turned the video of Hibiki and Taiho working out battle plans. He then turned it to Parfet doing all she could to fix the Paksis's problems," you don't see them giving up without of fight. I don't know about you guys, but I'm not going down without a fight," he then turned his attention to the group in the room," I'll fight to the bitter end and let them know just who their messing with," he then held up his right hand in clenched fist," I am Marcus Kensington, the Guardian Spirit Tiger of the West and protector of both the Nirvana and Immortal Purpose," he then walked to leave, but just before he left, he looked back to them," you guys should think of what you should do? After all, it's not my place to tell what to do," and with that, he left the room to help Taiho with his plans, without seeing a glow appearing on his right hand.

'Guardian Spirit, whatever,' Barnette thought, but she couldn't help but feel a little encouraged by his words,' show them just who you are, huh?' she thought as she looked at her right hand as she could faintly she a glow on it, but chalked it up to the lighting in the room,' you're still a jerk Marcus,' she thought with a little smirk on her face.

'Taiho would probably have said the same thing,' Meia thought as she looked at the door Marcus left through. She then laid down to get some rest,' maybe I'll prove who I am by fighting alongside you Taiho,' she thought as she lifted her right hand up a bit and saw a bit of glow.

Paiway and Duero couldn't help but feel affected by his speech andd wanted to feel just like him now. Dita, from her position could see the affect it had on the room and couldn't help but smile a bit,' thank you Marcus, now,' she then got her own idea on cheering up the ship,' I hope I can affect them like you did Mr. Blue,' she thought as she nicked named him after the blue clothing he has.

"Okay, by combining the gases of the planet and the Paksis, we can ignite the planet," Hibiki reviews and then looks to Taiho," we're fine up to that point. The question now is to find a way to gain enough time to escape without us getting caught in the explosion," Hibiki finishes as he crossed his arms with a thoughtful look on his face.

"We could use the combination you make with Meia and I could use the Gundam Epyon with Barnette," Taiho suggested as he looked at the plan on Pyoro's screen," this would solve the speed problem we have right now."

"That sounds like a plan," he then types the plans into Pyoro keyboard.

"Now all you two need is to get the firepower to take down the flagship," Pyoro commented as he felt the two were finally making progress.

In the shadows of one of the crates, BC couldn't help but smirk at the two,' you two certainly do keep yourselves busy, you didn't even need my encouragement,' she thought as she went to go back to the bridge.

"Hey everybody, can you hear me?" everyone then snapped their heads to the speakers of the ship, recognizing right away Dita's voice," we might lose and we might die, but that's what life is, isn't it? We all decided to fight this battle and we decided to fight because we didn't want something else beside ourselves to decide our future for us, or controlling our destinies. But now we're losing hope, you're deciding it's over and you're giving up…that's a mistake. Please don't say that we're done for, if you say so then it will become true. I'll never say that it's over; I'll never give up, because I want to be with all of you, forever. Because I love all of you, so you have to look deep within your hearts to find hope," she then started to cry a bit at the end, hoping that everyone heard her plea.

"You idiot," Hibiki said softly with a smirk on his face, not noticing the glow appearing on his right hand.

"She may be that, but she has a big heart that can move anyone," Taiho commented as he looked up to the ceiling, while he too didn't notice the glow on his right hand.

In one of the halls, Marcus couldn't help but smirk at her speech and saw a lot of the women getting their heads straight and getting to work," couldn't have said it better myself Dita, you keep that heart of yours and you'll go places girl," he then walked off towards her room.

"Okay, so we need Dita for this then," Taiho said as he looked at the plans on the Pyoro, already knowing that she was the one final piece to Hibiki's plan.

"So how has the plan been coming you two," a voice called to the two of them. The two look back and see Meia's smirking face.

"I'd say it's been going good and its going better now that you're here," Taiho said with his own smirk.

"So this has been where you two have been planning, huh?" another voice said as the shutter behind them opened up to show Jura," you're gravely mistaken if you're thinking of leaving me out of this. By now you should know I have a nose for things interesting."

"Yeah, yeah, stop trying to act all dramatic Jura," Barnette said as she made herself known to them," I better be apart of this plan, or there's going to be two less males in this universe," she smirked at the two as she cracked her knuckles a bit, which made the two chuckle a bit.

As Dita opened her door, she saw the busy women on the ship carrying out their assignments and couldn't help but wonder if her speech really made that much of a difference," you did good Dita," she then turned her head to see Marcus leaning on the wall, by her door with a smirk on his face and hands in his pockets," you do have a heart of gold that can move even the most depressed person, and for that you should be proud of yourself."

"Thank you, Mr. Blue," she said with a smile and made him stumble bit.

'Mr. Blue?' he thought as he looked at her with comically questioning face, but just shook it off and got up to walk ahead," come on, we need to get to the others and discuss about what they have planed."

"Right," she said with a smile as she quickly followed the black male.

As they enter, they see the group discussing their jobs," you're late," Hibiki said as they both entered the room.

"Hey, don't blame me, traffic was a killer to get here man," Marcus commented as he went up to the group.

"You two were still slow," Jura teased as she looked Marcus with a bit of glint in her eye, which made him flinch a bit, knowing what she had planned later on.

"Hey Dita, don't just stand their, you're part of the master plan," Taiho said as he smiled at the redhead.

"Okay," she replied with a warm smile on her face.

"And no slacking off, understand?" Hibiki asked as he held his own smirk on his face.

"Right," she answered with a smile and blush on her face.

After that, everyone got in their respective machines. As Taiho and Marcus made it on the Immortal Purpose, they quickly jump in their Gundams," Marcus Kensinton, Angelic Byakko, LET'S DO IT," he said as launched from the Immortal Purpose.

"Taiho Lobo, Dark Angel, LAUNCHING," Taiho called out as he blasted off from the ship.

Back on the Nirvana, Hibiki was just about to announce his leave as well," alright, let's go partner," he said to his Vanguard and was about get ready to launch when Dita's face came up on his screen.

"Mr. Alien?" she asked as she surprised Hibiki and gave him a bit of fright.

"What the hell is it? I explained everything to you, didn't I?" he asked as was starting to get irritated by her now.

"It's not that, I want you to do something when this is over," she then started to look a little nervous in front of him, but through it all, she just smiled," I want you to visit my room."

A little taken back by the request, he felt they should talk about this some other time," can't we talk about this later?"

"No, promise me right now," she demanded with puppy eyes on her face.

Knowing full well he couldn't resist the look for some reason, he conceded defeat with a blush," yeah, sure, okay, whatever," he said quickly as he turned his face away from her with a bit of a scowl on his face.

"Please don't forget, because I'll be waiting for you," she said before cutting off communications.

"Oh brother," he said as he knew he was in something that he didn't know he could handle,' maybe sensei or Marcus know how to deal with this,' with that thought in his mind, he made a note to talk to the two of them after the battle was done and were available," alright," he then got a cocky face on," time to kick some ass," he then turned on communications with the bridge," Hibiki Tokai, Vanguard, HEADING OUT," he called out as he blasted off from the Nirvana.

"Alright everyone, ready?" Taiho called out to everyone.

"You know it," Marcus said as he flexed his arm a bit.

"They won't know what hit them," Barnette said, as she got ready to get the plan underway.

"Affirmative," Meia said in her old fashion way with a smirk on her face.

"Just as long as it comes out elegant, I'm always ready," Jura said as she flipped long blond hair a bit.

"I'm ready as long as Mr. Alien is ready," Dita said as she had her usual cheery mood on.

"Well I guess that means you'll always be ready, cause I'm always ready to go into fight," Hibiki said as he gave a thumbs up to his sensei.

"Good," Taiho then got a determined look on his face," let's do it, COMMENCE THE OPERATION," he called out and got a 'Roger' from everyone. Hibiki and Jura then went up to combine and made their Vandread. When they got ready, the two blasted off and went out of the planets gas like atmosphere and put up their shields, all the while getting fired at from the fleet of Harvesters and Dark Army Soldiers.

"Alright everyone, let's get to the launch points immediately," Meia said as she got a 'Roger' from everyone else. The five then surround the core of the planet and start to use their beams on it, with the Gundams having special beam rifles made from Gascogne to use in this situation.

As everyone started to concentrate on the task at hand, Marcus and Taiho could feel something from within themselves. They started to wonder what was going on, until the monitor they had in their cockpits turned bright and blinded them. As they regained their senses, they both saw they were in their perspective dream training areas, where they trained under the two Shuffle Crest Alliance members.

"It's time…" Domon said as he stood in front of Taiho.

"That you learn…" Chibodee said as he summoned his Gundam.

"MY ULTIMATE TECHNIQUE," they both said in unison, as they got ready to give their final lesson to the two.

"Ah shit," Taiho said as he dodged a hail of bullets from the Burning Gundam. As he was running, he couldn't help but curse the timing the King of Hearts had when in a dire situation,' why now? I need to hurry with this, or the others might die while I do this,' Taiho thought as he started to think up of a plan while he hid behind a tree.

"Cyclone Punch," Chibodee called out as he sent a blue tornado toward Marcus, who barely dodged it and quickly ran down an alley of the training area that resembled Neo-America's New York. As he got in the middle of the alley, he quickly jumped up to the roof of the building and hid behind the ledge of the roof, all the while thinking of what Taiho just thought.

"You won't be able to help your friends if you won't come out to fight me Taiho Lobo," Domon called out as he walked through the forest of the Guyana Highlands. Taiho cursed a bit and had to agree with Domon, as he knew he didn't have much time left.

"Come on, think of something Marcus," Marcus said quietly to himself as he looked over the ledge and looked down to Gundam Maxter.

When the two saw they had their backs to them, they quickly dashed out of their hiding spots and went to give a surprise attack. But what they didn't expect was the two Gundams to disappear in a flash. They started to look left and right for them until they heard their respective attacks gunning for them.

"Erupting Burning Fingers," Domon said as he sent a blast of fire towards Taiho.

"Burning Punch," Chibodee called out as he sent a fired up punch towards Marcus.

The two could only look at the attacks coming towards them in slow motion, thinking that the attacks would surely kill them in their dreamscape, and thus kill them in the outside world.

'So this is how it ends…' Taiho thought as he started to think back on his life.

'There was still so much left I had to do…' Marcus thought as he started to look back on his time with the Menalos.

'So much left undone…' Taiho then started to think about the training he left incomplete with Hibiki and Meia.

'But it's all over now….' Marcus as he thought he would at last meet Nagi in the after life.

'NO' two voices called out and snapped them out from their thoughts

'Patricia,' Taiho thought as he looked at the ethereal form of his dead girlfriend.

'Nagi,' Marcus thought as he looked upon her with tears in his eyes.

The two fallen loves of the two women looked upon the two with warm looks on their faces,' you have to live and protect your comrades, otherwise, this evil will spread to other dimensions and tear apart the very fabric that keeps order between our universes,' the two then go to them and cup their hand on their cheeks,' please, don't let those precious to you die I vain now,' they both said with a soft loving tone.

After a moment passed, they opened their eyes and saw the attacks coming to them. Immediatley they enter their Seed mode and think of activating the ZERO system within their minds. But something else happened, they saw images of their friends, family, and loved ones. They thought it was their fallen love telling them something else, but they noticed this was their mind's telling them what was most important to them.

As Taiho saw the images flash by him, he then came upon on last one that meant the world to him now,' Meia,' it then hit him what would unlock his Hyper mode. It was the will to protect and be with Meia that would do it. With that thought, he got in the stance he learned from Domon.

For Marcus, he saw the images flash by him as well, but the last image confused him the most,' Barnette?' he thought questionably, but shrugged bit,' if this means I have to protect that tomboy, then I'll do it, with these two fists,' Marcus thought as he got in his boxer stance.

When they snapped out their thoughts, they had one thought in mind…it was time to unleash their ulimate attacks.

Taiho extended his arms out and charged his Ki. As he did, he felt the power building up in between his hand. He then pulled it in and put in the position of a Hadoken attack.

Marcus raised his right hand up in clenched both his hands into fists and got ready to unleash the attack as he built the Ki into his two fists.

When the attacks got close enough, they saw it was time to attack and with their voices reaching the top of their lungs, they called out their attack. As they did, two crests appeared on their right hands. On Taiho's was a kanji for East with an azure dragon going around in and out of its writing, while Marcus had kanji for West with a white tiger curled around it, its claws extend and its mouth ready to chew out any enemies.

"SEKIHA TENKYOKEN," Taiho called out as the gold blast of Ki with the Dragon of the East crest imaged in the middle of it, blew right through the fire and made its way to the Burning Gundam.

"BURSTING MACHINE GUN PUNCH," Marcus called out as he sent a hail of purple punch waves of Ki towards the Gundam Maxter and went right through the punch wave it had made.

The attacks hit the two and made the Gundams disappear in a flash of light. But before they left, the two had one last thing to say to the two of them," you pass."

The two then snapped their heads up and notice that phase one of the plan was already complete, as they saw the core was now shrinking, which meant it was about to explode.

"Alright everyone, let's hightail it out of here," Taiho called out as he got his senses back. He then looked towards Barnette," ready?"

"Yeah," the two then combine to make Gundam Eypon," let's go."

"Right," he replied as he made his way to Marcus," ready to ride Air Epyon," he taunted a bit to his best bud.

"Would you hurry up, we're about to get fried here," Marcus snapped as he looked back to the flames of core rushing towards them.

"Yeah, yeah," Taiho said took a hold of the white Gundam's hand and blasted off at great speeds.

As the two made it out, they saw Meia had just dropped off Hibiki to make him combine with Dita with the fire of the gas planet destroying the fleet of enemies they passed," go get them you two," Marcus said as he watched Vandread Dita took the shoulder cannons it had and combined them to make a large double sided javelin. They then cocked it back and threw it with the planet's flames following close behind. The flagship saw this and shot a large beam towards them.

When the two attacks met, the javelin was stopped by the blast, but that didn't matter as the flames powered it up and blasted right through the beam fired by the flagship and destroyed it. Everyone thought they had finally beaten them, but Taiho and Marcus knew better and quickly made way to the Vandread. As they got their, they saw the flagship come out from the flames of destruction with only one exception…the Dark Gundam's body was now towering over them.

"You two get out here, we'll handle this," Taiho said as he got in front of the Vandread.

"But…" Hibiki was about to protest, but the other Gundam pilot cut him off.

"Don't worry, we have this in the bag," Marcus said as he smirked at the two in the Vandread. Dita and Hibiki looked at each other before nodding and blasting off back to the Nirvana.

"This hand of mine is burning red, it's loud roar tells me to grasp victory," Taiho called out as his crest appeared on the back of his right hand, along with Marcus's crest appearing on the back of his right hand," here I go, with the ultimate technique of the martial artist," he said as he extended his arms out and his hand cupped and charged his Ki.

"And here I go with the ultimate technique of the professional boxer," Marcus said as he cocked his right clenched fisted hand and charged his Ki.

"Let's do it Marcus," Taiho said to his best bud, as his clothes started to change into a golden color with his hair turning gold and blond with it raising up a bit with the power flowing through him now.

"Right with ya Taiho," Marcus replied as he got ready to unleash his attack, as he too started to change into a golden color like Taiho and had the tails of his du-rag rise up with the power flowing through him as well.

"SEKIHA TENKYOKEN/BURSTING MACHINE GUN PUNCH," the two called out at the same time as they sent their respective attacks at the body of the Dark Gundam, not letting it have a chance at attacking at all. As the two attacks made their way towards the Dark Gunam, they combined and made a swirling giant beam of gold and purple towards the evil Gundam. It then hit the Dark Gundam and vaporized its body, along with the rest of the flagship.

After that, the two saw they achieved victory, so they quickly blasted out of the way of flames of the new star that was made by them. As the two were making their way, they gave each other a dab to each other in their Gundams. When they got on the Immortal Purpose, they got on a small ship and made their way to the Nirvana to see how everyone was doing.

When the two made it there and landed, they got out and saw the entire crew there to greet them," WELCOME BACK," said the whole crew of the Nirvana. The two looked eyes with each other and smirked as they turned their attention back to the crew.

"You two were amazing," Jura said as she glomped Marcus from out of nowhere and made him blush bit as she hugged his head in between her breasts," you two really looked elegant out there."

The two then felt a heat behind them and saw Barnette in red like battle aura. Marcus quickly got out of the embrace and tried to defend himself," Barnette, this isn't what it looks like, you gotta believe me," he said as he waved his hands in front of him to defend himself.

But it seemed she didn't hear him as she pulled out her 'out-of-nowhere' mallet and said," PERVERT," and sent the black male sailing over the crowd and implanted him into the wall.

"Uncute tomboy," Marcus muttered painfully as he slowly slid off the wall.

"WE HAVE A PROBLEM," Pyoro called out as he got the attention of the people in the room.

"Don't worry Pyoro, they'll get over it in time," Taiho said as he thought he was talking about Barnette and Marcus.

"I'm not talking about that, look at this" he scowled a bit until his screen turned to show the Nirvana and Immortal Purpose, along with the number of flagships in the Harvesters fleet," Earth has already discovered that our two ships has destroyed one of their flagships! Hearing the news, other fleets that were in other solar systems all changed their targets to Mejale and Tarak!" he exclaimed as he showed everyone what was going on.

"Uh, there's five of them," Jura commented as she felt things were now getting out of their league once again.

"So what are we going to do now? We were barely able to get rid of one of them," Barnette asked as everyone in the room started to get worried.

"What is it with you guys?" Hibiki asked as he got everyone's attention," are you going to shrivel up in fear? We already know what we have to do, right sensei?" he then looked at Taiho with a smirk on his face.

"Right," Taiho said as he quickly caught on," no matter the odds, no matter how hard the trial, we'll persevere and show them what men and women can do when we put our hearts and soul on the line," he then pumped his right hand up as his crest showed up on it," RIGHT?"

"RIGHT," they answered as agreed with the Dark Angel Gundam pilot.

'We have only taken the first step into realizing our purpose and we'll continue to search for it, even if it takes our whole lives,' Taiho thought as he looked at everyone with a smile on his face,' it's time we left the first stage of this show and take it up to second act.'

From the darkness of space, Rabat could only smirk at what just happened,' it seems that those two have come far, but just how far will they go I wonder,' he thought as he turned his ship around and blasted off,' until then squirt…not to mention you two Gundam pilots,' he thought as he continued into the vastness of space.

**A/N: **That's the end of CH.13 guys; hope you liked and sorry for taking so long. Anyhow, the reason for the Taiho and Marcus learning the two techniques just now was because that nothing short of two attacks like that at a weakened version of the Dark Gundam would be able to take it down. And the way they were able to obtain the technique and enter Hyper mode, well, I thought it would be the only reasonable them to be able to obtain it, when their lives were on the line. I also hope when they went through the process that it wasn't as confusing. Well, if anything else, PM or post it on the reviews, ja ne.

ShadowDragonGX.


	14. MARCUS’S NEW COMBINATION

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Vandread or any of the Gundam series you see preferences to.

MARCUS'S NEW COMBINATION

_They all charged in, dodging fire from the enemy's shots. All of them, trying their best not to get hit by the shots and taking out the enemy as they go, though it wasn't that hard for Taiho, Marcus, Hibiki and the other four women._

"_No way these guys are going to beat me, they're going to get what's coming to them," Hibiki said as he and Dita charged in Vandread Dita._

"_You won't have all the fun to yourself, Hibiki," Taiho said as he and Meia combined their machines to make Wing Zero. Once they got ahead of them they cocked the Buster Rifle towards a group of Leo Mobile suits._

"_LOCKED ONTO THE TARGET," Taiho and Meia said at the same time as the rifle charged up. They were about to fire when they heard Jura say something._

"_What is that?" she asked as he squinted her eyes a bit, only to she a beam hit Vandread Dita and take its left arm completely off._

"_Dita! Hibiki!" Marcus called out as he wondered if they were alright from the shot._

_Taiho then saw Barnette go in and try to shoot down whatever shot them, only to shot down herself and destroyed," no," Taiho whispered as he saw another shot take down Jura," no," he said louder and started to shake in anger," eehh, DAMN YOU," he called out as he and Meia cocked the Buster Rifle in the enemy's direction._

_Marcus was about to follow his example, only to see Wing Zero get impaled right through the chest by a long whit spear of some sort. He looked back and saw a giant grey hand catch his whole body and started to crush him," AHHH," he screamed out in pain as he felt the cockpit close in on him and felt the pressure on his whole body as well._

_Hibiki saw all of this and was about to shoot with his remaining arm with the back cannon cocked on it, only for its power to be diminished. The last thing he and Dita saw was a giant red beam coming towards them._

"_Not again," Taiho said as he coughed up blood from his mouth," stop," he whispered, hoping they would listen to him, only for them to continued firing at the Nirvana," Stop," he said louder, but they kept firing at the ship and the Immortal Purpose," STOP," he called out, only to see a bright flash of explosion occur from both ships exploding," NOOOO," he called out as that was the last vision he saw._

"NO," he called out as he shot up from his bed in the Immortal Purpose. He panted and felt the sweat on his body drench him. He heard a moan beside him and saw Meia getting up from beside him.

After the last fight, they both had started to sleep with each other. Taiho was surprised when it happened and that she was the one who proposed to sleep with him, but of course, not to have any sex, not yet at least. After that proposal, Meia had quickly gone to pack her stuff and live with Taiho, and the two of them couldn't be happier, for now at least.

"I guess it would be too much of a serious moment to say 'Ohayo', huh?" Taiho asked as he sat on the side of the bed and put his hand on his forehead, still having a fresh memory of what happened in his dream.

"If you had the same dream as me, yes, it really doesn't suit the situation now," she answered as she leaned her head in the back of his neck and remembered what happened to her and Taiho when they fought in the dream.

Another thing they both did to pass the time was Taiho teaching her both languages of Japanese and Spanish. It wasn't much of a priority, but they at least had fun speaking to each other in a different language. Though for Taiho, he thought she sounded real sexy when she started to speak Spanish, a thing Meia herself noted and did whenever she wanted something bad.

"I did amore (love), 'sigh' let's get up and see if the others got it too," he proposed as he felt her nodded in the back of his neck. They both got up and got their clothes, but not before the both of them had taken a shower to take off the smell of heavy sweat on their bodies.

Once they were done, they were about to leave out the door when it opened up to see Marcus in his usual white and blue clothing," let me guess, you guys had the same dream too," he asked as they both nodded. He then sighed tiredly and nodded towards the hangar," let's go see how everyone else is doing."

"YEAH," they both said as they followed him to the hangar. Once they did, they boarded a small ship and headed towards the Nirvana. When they landed inside its hangar and got out, they saw Hibiki, Dita, and Barnette in front of the Vanguard, though it seemed Hibiki was too caught up in his own world to feel they were there.

"That light…" they heard him start as he talked to himself, as if trying to figure out what the dream was about for himself," just what was that?"

"Mr. Alien?" Dita asked as her question got him out of his trance to see them all there behind him.

"What do you guys want? What are you doing here so early in the morning?" he asked in a rude manner, only to have Taiho come up behind him and bonk him on the head," ow, what did you do that for sensei?"

"You're being rude…" he scolded as he breathed in a big sigh," we all had the same dream, am I correct?" he asked as he surprised the other three and made them nod, knowing what he meant.

"The dream was trying to communicate to us, sending us a message. At least, that is how it felt to me," Meia commented as everyone felt they had to agree.

"So you're saying you saw the same thing I did?" Hibiki asked in a freaked out manner, it was crazy for so many people to have the same dream at the same time; Taiho mumble about saying that he asked that earlier.

"So you saw it too, Mr. Alien?" Dita asked as Taiho and Meia just shook their heads at her.

'ISN'T THAT WHAT HE JUST SAID?' they both thought, as it seemed obvious from what he asked.

"That's just creepy," Jura said as she looked a little sick from dream," how could we all have the same dream at the same time? It's really weird," she said as she put her slender hand on her forehead from the headache she was receiving.

"All of us here have something important in common…" Meia started as she remembered how those whole fell into the light of the Paksis, the changed Dreads and Vanguards, and the Gundams that seemed the same as Hibiki's Vanguard," the modified Dreads and Vanguard, including the Gundam Taiho and Marcus use are the proof of that."

"It's still weird, a dream like that, it's not, ah," Jura started only to feel a big throb of a headache happen. The other asked if she was alright, but she just turned and said," I'm okay, I'm going back to sleep," she said as she headed back to her room.

Marcus seeing this, wondered if he should help her out, but then noticed Barnette was shaking a bit. He saw a lot of fear in her eyes and made a decision. He then went up to her and put a hand on her shoulder," hey, you alright Barnette?" he asked in a concerned voice.

She nodded weakly and looked up to him," just a bit shaken up, that's all, I just need some rest," she said as she was about to turn away, only to have Marcus cling his hand onto her wrist.

"If you, uhm, if you, uh, need any thing to talk about, uh, I'm here, okay?" Marcus said as he looked to the side so as not to look at her in the face, it felt a bit embarrassing to give comfort to someone who has been knocking you out for no good reasons, but he felt he should at least do this.

Barnette got a bit of a blush on her face and nodded weakly again," thanks Marcus, I appreciate that…see ya," she said as she felt him let go of her wrist and went to get some sleep herself, but couldn't help but wonder why it felt so good to hear him voice such concern for her,' must be my fatigue, that's right, my fatigue…I think,' she said before she left the hangar.

After that, everyone went his or her separate ways into the ship. Marcus went to see how Duero was doing; since he remembered that this was when he started to focus on the birth of babies and how they're created. Taiho, along with Meia, went to see how the conditions of the ship were holding up. Barnette, after she got some shuteye, went to practice up on her shooting, while also trying to figure out why she still felt good on Marcus's offer. Everyone else, of course, went along with what happened in the series original storyline.

And that's how both Taiho and Meia found Hibiki and Barnette chatting about the promise Hibki made to her.

"What's up? What do you want now?" he asked irritably, as they could tell from his voice," Why are you following me?"

"Um, well I, uh," she fidgeted a bit as she twiddled her finger a bit under the long sleeved PJ's she had on," I was wondering when you would come to my room, you know, for a little visit," she said as she cocked her head cutely and had a smile like face on with a blush," you promised you would, remember?"

Taiho chuckled at Hibiki's startled and panicked face, the little man was trying to figure what to do in such a foreign situation as this," Dita, look at what's going on, do you think I would want to come and go for a visit to your room right now?!" he asked as his face got a big blush on it.

That brought the question they heard from her as they saw her walk closely to him," huh, then when? Tomorrow? The day after? Or maybe the day after that?" she questioned as Hibiki tried to quickly think of an answer. Meia could only shake her head a bit at the bubbly redhead.

"Sometime real soon, okay?" he said as he turned to walk away.

"Huh, hey wait Mr. Alien. We can go and have some breakfast together, okay?" she proposed.

"I'll eat by myself," he said stubbornly.

"Aw, come on, don't say that," she said as she quickly ran after him to join him in breakfast, while also arguing about it as well.

"And so another day begins," a voice said as Taiho and Meia broke from their trances and saw it was Paiway who spoke," Dita chasing Hibiki," she said as she wrote something down in her noteback. She then threw her little frog puppet up to them and started to speak in an attempted frog voice," she'll have to learn something from you two to know what's she doing wrong, right, ribbit?" she asked as the two only shook their heads a bit at her attitude.

"What's going on 'hiccup'?" Pyoro asked as he in between the three.

"What are you doing interrupting a lady like that? How rude," she said as she pulled him down from the air a bit with a vein popping out of her forehead. But then she caught what he just did," wait a minute, I just heard you hiccup, but you're a machine, you can't hiccup," she was quickly thrown off as he hiccupped again with a look of fever on his visor. The two could only look in concern of the little white robot and wondered if this was connected to the dream, well, Meia wondered, Taiho already knew what it was.

With Marcus, he was hanging out with the doctor and Bart, who was yapping his mouth off as usual," you know, at first, I thought women were weird and heard they eat men's internal organs," Marcus had to chuckle bit at that, he just couldn't see such a thing happen, unless that person was someone like Hannibal Lector," but thanks to Taiho, I think I can understand them a bit, including Jura."

"About that, how's it going with you two?" Marcus asked as he remembered Taiho saying he was trying to hook the two of them up and trying to get Bart not to fall for BC, for obvious reasons.

"It's going good, although…" Bart started, only sigh a bit," she's been feeling a bit down lately, I don't know what to do," he said as he was worried about the other blond's state.

"Well, you'll have to figure it out for yourself. My suggestion, just be there for her if she's feeling down and out, or just plain sad, it strengthens whatever relationship you two have," Marcus said as he was really trying to help out the helmsman.

"Thanks," Bart said as he welcomed any help from Taiho and Marcus, as he knew the two were more used to men and women relationships. He then noticed the Duero was reading something," hey doc, what's that you're reading there?"

"I found it in a storage hold of the Pioneer part of the ship," he answered as he held it up and showed the title of 'Hello, Baby' with the drawing of a small baby under the title," babies begin when the sperm of the father's seed is accepted by the mother's egg, which is called an ovum. The two of them form that which is called a zygote…"

"Ehh, you really interested into that stuff?" Bart asked, as he was totally confused by all of the terms.

"If you want to have good time with Jura, you would be too," Marcus said under his breath as he knew what the requirement was to make a baby, which made him grin a bit in a perverse manner.

"I find it fascinating," the doctor answered Bart, only to see at the corner of his Hibiki tiredly coming in to lie in his bed. Everyone looked at each other and wondered what was up with him.

With Barnette, she was just about to go in the bathroom to do some lady's business. As she went to one of the stalls, she heard a conversation between two girls.

"Things sure are different now, but I guess you get used to anything, even men," girl one said as she started to powder up her face.

"You're right, I mean, even eating meals with them doesn't bother us anymore," girl two replied as she shrugged a bit at her friend.

"We used to think they were so primitive, they were barely human."

"And then they suddenly tell us we're from the same planet and that both men and women came from earth."

"That's something I can definitely believe, since both of the leader's, Taiho and Meia, are living with each other in the same room and ship."

"You know, I have to admit, he is cute, including his friend he brought along, what's his name…Marcus, yeah, I wonder…"

That was the last straw for Barnette as she heard the second girl try to think of getting with Marcus," I think you two should remember that Taiho, even though our sub-leader, is also our prison, and Marcus is only a guest," she said as she walked passed them, only to turn her head with fire in her eyes," GOT THAT."

The two could only nod as they felt she was being a real scary woman now. The first girl then got her senses back and whispered," you think Barnette has the hot's for Marcus, it would explain her defending him and why she got so angry."

"Yeah, definitely, she must have the hot's for him," the second girl whispered back.

"I DO NOT HAVE THE HOT'S FOR…FOR THAT PERVERT," Barnette called out as she stuck her head out of the stall and startled the two girls and humphed as she went back to do her business.

At that moment, Marcus felt a chill go down his spine and sneezed a bit," Marcus, you alright?" Hibiki asked as he saw how he sneezed and shivered a bit.

"Yeah, I'm good," Marcus answered as he scratched his head a bit,' I wonder who was talking about me, ah well, now back to this,' he then turned back to Hibiki.

"You promised?" the doctored asked, wondering if he heard right," you promised that you would got to Dita's room?"

"Yeah, it kind of just came out in the heat of the moment, you know?" Hibiki replied as he scratched with a tired look on his face.

"So what's the problem, just go and see her?" Bart said as he felt it was just one simple thing.

"YOU GO AND SEE HER," Hibiki snapped back as he felt it wasn't as simple as that.

"Look pal, you were the one who made the promise," Bart shot back as he knew Hibiki only dug his own grave and no one else could hardly do anything to help him now.

Hibiki paused a bit before he turned away from him with his arms crossed in stubbornness," you've got to be kidding, go to a woman's room? A real man would never do that…right?" he asked as he looked towards Marcus.

"Well, not if they don't know each other…intimately that is?" Marcus said as he said the last part under his breath and smirked a bit at Hibiki.

"A real man would also keep promises," Duero started as he got Hibiki's attention," your previous self would have been adamant about that part, I would think."

Hibiki looked a bit defeated before he looked down with a blush on his face and started to fidget a bit," I don't mean I want to break my promise, but…."

"But what?" the doctor asked as he left the question hanging in the air.

"It would be better you say the whole thing so we can help you man," Marcus commented as he could hardly hold in his chuckled, because he found Hibiki's situation to be a bit funny.

That's when he snapped while still holding the blush on his face," LOOK, if I go to her room, what are we going to do when I go in there? I mean, what are we going to talk about?" he asked as he mostly directed the questions towards Marcus.

'I can name a few things, but I'll keep that to myself,' Marcus thought as he inwardly smirked as the other two shrugged in unison, agreeing with the short navy haired man as they too didn't know what to talk about with women," well, you should just do it anyways, better to get it out of the way than just keep it hanging in the air."

"But, I just, ahhhhh," Hibiki said, as he got frustrated with himself as he felt the whole thing was against him.

"Well, I have to go, I need to go and check up on my patients, Ezra is due for a check up now," the doctor said as he got up to leave.

"Yo, wait for me doc, I'd like to see this for myself," Marcus said as Duero nodded and let the second Gundam Pilot follow him.

As they walked the halls, he caught a glimpse of blond hair and saw a flushed Jura walking down the halls," hey doc, you go on ahead, I'm going to catch up with you later."

"Okay, see you then," Duero relpied as he went on ahead to the infirmary.

When he got there, he put a hand on her shoulder and got her attention," you okay, Jura?" he asked in concern.

"Not really, could you help me out a bit, please?" she asked as held her head a bit from headache she has.

"Sure, come on," he complied as he led her slowly to the infirmary.

When they got there, they both saw the doctor checking up on Ezra and seeing if the baby she had was doing fine," doctor, do you have something for my headache?" Jura asked as Marcus sat her down on a chair.

"What's the matter?" Duero asked as wondered if it wasn't any worse than that.

"Well, it started out after I had that dream this morning," she explained as she thanked Marcus, who just shook his head and mouthed to her 'no prob'.

"A dream? Come to think of it, Hibiki did mention that he had the same dream. The Paksis is acting up as well," the then looked towards Pyoro, who still looked a bit sick himself," are these connected somehow?" he asked himself as he pondered the connections.

"MY HEAD IS KILLING ME, CAN I PLEASE HAVE SOME MEDICINE," she snapped as she felt a doozy of a throb in her head. She looked up and saw everyone staring at her," I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell like that," she quickly apologized as she tried to keep herself in check.

"I'll go get the medicine right away, please wait her for a bit," the doctor ordered as he got up to get the medicine.

She nodded as she saw him leave and then looked up to the monitor in the room and saw a monitor that had Ezra's baby on it," you baby has grown," she commented.

"Good luck on a safe delivery Ezra," Marcus commented," well, I gotta go, take care Jura, Ezra," he said as he turned back and left.

"Goodbye Marcus and thank you," Ezra said as waved goodbye to him, along with Jura.

As he walked through the halls, he started to wonder what he was missing,' something I'm forgetting, hhmmm, ah well, shouldn't really affect me,' he thought as he continued to wander through the halls, forgetting that a certain book caught Jura's eye while she waited for her medicine.

With Taiho, he and Meia had gone to the garden just below the bridge and were training with each other. When they finished, they went by a tree, where their drinks and towels were.

"You know, you're coming along nicely, a few more weeks of this and you might just be up to Hibik's level of skill," Taiho commented as he wiped some sweat from his forehead.

"Don't think I'll stop there, I'm going to be sure I can go past you, so I can keep you in check mister," she said playfully as she saw him grin a bit weakly at her.

"R-right, well, you can always dream I guess," he said nervously as he got a playful punch on the shoulder from Meia,' man, I hope she was kidding about that, otherwise, I'm dead,' he thought as he mentally sweated of what might happen if she got too bossy with him.

As she wiped some sweat from her own forehead, she looked down a bit and started to think. When she got her thoughts together, she looked at Taiho and asked one thing," hey Taiho, what's your planet like?"

Taiho blinked a bit; he didn't expect a question like that from out of the blue. He started think and decided to tell as much truth he could," well, it's definitely not as advance as the other planets we've been to, including Tarark, Mejale, and this ship. But despite that, we some got some good landscape. We have plenty of plants throughout the world, trees, flowers, grass, combine all that, and you might find a good scenery or two. We also got plenty of water, both regular and salt water, salt water of course being in our oceans. Along those oceans are some really cool beaches and the clearest blue crystal waters you can see. If you ever were to be on the beach in the morning or dusk times, you would most likely see a cool sunrise or sunset that would set a good mood. But despite all of that, Gaia has some problems. We seem to be wasting our planets resources too quickly, gas won't last us forever, water will someday run out on us, our ozone layers has holes in them, a lot of our trees and rainforests are being cut down for the development of buildings when we need to preserve them in order for us to have a good supply of air for us to live, and of course, you have your basic tyrant here and there in the world. So basically, Gaia has its ups and downs with it," Taiho finished as he looked up to the stars and started to wonder on some things.

"Well, I still hope to see it myself, if you don't mind?" she asked as she put her arms around his neck.

Taiho smirked a bit and put his hand on her waist," I wouldn't mind at all, I'd would be happy if you could see my world," he said as he smiled at her, but that made him wonder,' I wonder how my mom is doing, I hope she isn't freaking out too much. And what about Meia?' he asked himself as he looked into Meia's eyes,' will I be able to bring her with me if I'm able to go back to my dimension, if so, what will we do, and where will we live?' he wondered as he started to doubt what would happen after his journey was done.

"Honey," he heard Meia say as it snapped him from his thoughts," what's wrong?" she asked in a concerned voice.

Taiho just looked at her and smiled genuinely at her," nothing, nothing is wrong Meia, I was just thinking of something…now," he started as he leaned down to her," how about I give you a little honey," he suggested as he lips started to brush against hers.

"Sure, as long as it's sweet," she said with a smiled and started to passionately kiss him.

'Corny, but what the hell, I don't care, just like I don't care what happens after this,' he thought as he continued to kiss her and hold her in his arms,' Meia, as long as you're with me, I don't care what happens, just as long as you are with me,' they both then stopped making out and had their foreheads against each other, with smiles and closed eyes as they started to wonder what life will bring them.

On another part of the ship, Barnette was back to her target practice, with Jura looking off in the distance in thought," you know Barnette, I want to have a baby," Jura said out of the blue and made Barnette miss her final target.

"W-what, a b-baby?" Barnette stuttered as she was surprised by what she just heard,' I hope she isn't thinking what I think she's thinking,' she thought, as she looked a bit panicky.

"Yeah, a baby," Jura said as she smiled at her best friend.

"And just who do you want this baby?" she asked nervously, hoping it wasn't going where she thought it was going,' please don't let it be, just please,' she pleaded with whatever outside power that may be able to help her.

"Well, with one of the men of course, just think how meaningful it would be," when she said this Barnette gasped and lowered her head a bit with a blush, knowing this was what she wanted when she saw the look on Jura's face," that's what I want, to make a baby with a man's seed. Think about going back to Mejale with that news Barnette," she said excitedly as she got up and got up to Barnette's face," no Mejalian has done it before, I'll be Mejale's greatest heroine," she said as she got hearts and a sparkly smile and face on when she said that.

"I thought so…" Barnette sighed as she shook head a bit at Jura," So, this seed, where do you think you'd get it?" she asked as Barnette looked embarrassed about the conversation.

"Well, why don't you find out from Marcus? You two do seem pretty close," Jura suggested with a wink.

"Wh-wh-WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSE TO MEAN, LIKE HE AND I ARE EVEN CLOSE AT ALL," she snapped back at her best friend with her face going beet red.

"Ah, but why are you blushing, I think someone has a crush," Jura suggested playfully.

"I-I DON'T, I DON"T EVEN L-LIKE HIM," she yelled back as her red face was starting to turn bright. Before they could continue their conversation, the alarm went off.

Everyone was now out in space and were receiving orders to received an escape pod floating by itself in space,' guess it's finally time to get Misty into our little group,' Taiho thought as he flew along with Meia.

"Hey, Tiaho," he was then broken from his thoughts when he heard Marcus and saw his face on the screen," I've got a bad feeling about this man, I don't know what it is, but…watch your back, okay?"

"Sure, and you watch yours too, kay?" he replied as he got a nod from his best friend.

"Meia, Taiho, don't fight unless you have to. As soon as the pod is secure, we're outta here," Taiho heard from BC as she ordered the both of them on what she had planned.

"ROGER," they both of them said as they complied.

"I wonder what's in that pod?" Jura asked herself, only to get a call from someone,' hmm? Who would be calling me now?' she asked herself again as she opened up the channel and saw Bart," oh, hi Bart, what's the matter?"

"Just wanted to say good luck to ya, and stay safe, okay? I'd feel bad if you got injured," he said nervously and scratched the back of his neck.

"Don't worry about me dear, something as elegant as myself won't die in a place like this, buh-bye," she waved as she blew a kiss to him and winked at him.

"B-bye," he waved back as he got a big blush on his face.

"Uh, Marcus?" Barnette said as he got the second Gundam pilot's attention," wh-what do you have to do to get a seed from a male to get a female pregnant?" she asked with a big blush on her face.

"WHAT?!" he asked as he stared wide eyed as Barnette and then remembered what he forgot,' I should've taken that book away from Jura's sight, now she's going to go on a rampage to get some dick to get a baby, shit,' Marcus said as slapped his forehead a bit," um, well, ya see…" but he was cut off as the sensors detected enemies coming," no time to explain that, enemies coming from behind, LET'S GO," he called out as he blasted off towards the cubes and Gundam Wing mobile suits that were behind them.

Marcus quickly shot two rounds at a Leo, one hit it's rifle and another hit it's torso, destroying it. He then dodged some fire from behind, but quickly shot off three rounds and quickly destroyed two Leos and one cube new cube Harvester. He saw one of the Virgos coming in to sneak past him, but he wouldn't have any of that," not on my watch," he called out as he quickly connected both sabers and had them extend to have Shenlong Gundam's trident beam staff. He quickly blasted off towards it and cut in two. As soon as he did, he quickly got out of explosion range. When he looked back, he saw a platoon heading toward him," you think all of you are going to stop me, heh, you all don't know who fucking with," he said as he activated the ZERO system and entered SEED mode. Once that was done, he targeted as many as he could and shot with all of his weapons, taking down many of the Leos and cubes, and a few of the Virgos that didn't have enough time to put up their shields.

"Meia, lets form up," Taiho called out to Meia and saw her nod. They fly towards each other and form Wing Zero," let's show them their no match for the two of us," he said to his girlfriend, who nodded with a bit of smirk on her face. They blast off and quickly took out their saber to cut down two enemies through the midsection, one being a Leo and the other being a Virgo. They then took the Buster Rifle and cock it towards a large group," locked onto the target," Taiho said as the two of them fire the Buster Rifle and take down a whole group of cubes, Leos, and Virgos, whose shields could not hold up to the destructive force of the beam shot off. When they saw a lot of them closing in on them, they split the Buster Rifle and charge up the beam. They both smirk again as they shoot off the now twin rifles and circled around to take down all of those who were going to close in on them.

"Alright, time to change it up, BARNETTE," Taiho called out as he and Meia disengaged Wing Zero and quickly made Gundam Epyon. Once combined, he gave a thumbs up to Barnette," let's get close and personal with these guys," he said as Barnette nodded. They then threw up them whip and heated it up. Once it was done, they dash in at great speeds and cut down all of those they close to. When they passed, they all exploded into pieces. Having enough of that, they took the beam saber from the side of Epyon and activated the large beam saber. They charge in and cut a Virgo down the middle. They then shot the whip towards a Leo and swing it around towards a cube and dashed in and cut the two of them down at the same time.

While all of this happened, Hibiki charged in to get the pod, but the cubes came in to take it away," that pod is ours, we got to it first and we're going to take it back," he called out as he continued to charge towards them. But he was cut off as he saw three cube, one Leo and Virgo stood in his path,' think you'll stop me, I haven't been training for nothing,' he thought as he quickly took out his sword and quickly cut through the midsections of the Leo and Virgo. He saw that two of the three cubes were about to grab him, but he quickly ducked under them and slashed them from behind and destroyed them. With the last one, he charged in with all of his speed with his sword going in a stabbing position. The last cube didn't have time to put a defense as it was sliced in two," you guys may have gotten quicker, but that doesn't mean I can see you and cut you down," he said with a big cocky smirk. He then looked ahead and saw that only one Cube was taking the pod, but that one was destroyed as he saw Meia shoot it down.

"Hibiki, we should combine together and take the pod," Meia said over the communicator.

"Sounds like a plan," he replied, just as they were about to combine, a red beam got in their way and clipped Meia," ah, what's that red light?" he asked himself.

"The pod," Meia said as her system seemed to have frozen up," you have to get the pod and get back to the Nirvana now," she ordered as she tried to get her systems back up.

"Yeah, right," he said as he quickly went for the pod. He looked back and saw four more going for either him or the pod," you're not getting it no matter what," he called out to them as he tried to get to the pod as fast as he could, only for it to be snatched up by two more.

"I don't think so," Jura said sweetly as she went in and combined with Hibiki to make Vandread Jura. The two of them quickly put up a shield and take the pod for themselves," ta-da, am I good or what?" she asked Hibiki.

"Yeah, well, you're better late than never I suppose," Hibiki deadpanned to her. He then saw her quickly scoot up to him and get real close, intimately close, which freaks him out a bit.

"Listen Hibiki…" she trails off as her voice starts to sound sexy.

"Yeah, what do ya want Jura?" he asked in a nervous voice.

"I want make a baby, will you give me what I need?" she asks in that sexy voice of hers.

Hibiki gulps and starts sweat as he turns beet red," LOOK, WE'RE IN COMBAT SURROUNDED BY ENEMIES, WE CAN'T TALK ABOUT THAT KIND OF STUFF NOW," he snaps at her as she laughs a bit at his anger.

"Jura, Hibiki, get back to the Nirvana, now," Taiho says to the two of them as he drags Meia into the shield. He then disengages Epyon and combines with Meia again to make Wing Zero.

"ROGER," the two of them reply.

"The enemy is in observation mode, they are not attacking. Meanwhile, we'll…" Meia started but was cut off as both Meia and Taiho felt something behind them. They look back and saw a new type of Harvester. One that looks like a stingray or something like that, but it didn't stop there. Everyone turned just in time to see something grow from its back, but they couldn't see anything grow anymore as smoke appeared and blocked their vision. But they didn't have to wait long as a long white spear shot out and went passed the barrier and hook Wing Zero in the right shoulder.

"AHHH," both Taiho and Meia scream out in pain as if they felt the blow themselves. Then from out of the smoke, four cannons burst out and charged up. Everyone was stuck in place as the cannons shot four red beams.

When they hit, Vandread Jura was disengaged by it," hey, what is this, what's going on here?" Jura asked as she and Hibiki tumbled around in space. A scream of pain brought their attention as they saw Wing Zero was still held by the long white spear.

The smoke cleared and showed a massive Gundam that only Marcus could identify now," Grand Gundam," he said out loud as he looked at the hulking form of one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Dark Gundam's army. The body was that of an elephant, tanned colored, two large white spears on it back which had one occupied at the moment, and four large cannons for arms that could pop out hands at any given notice. He was cut off from his staring as one of the four cannons quickly aimed at him and shot a hand out that caught him," AAHHHH," he screamed out in pain as he felt the hand squeezing and crushing the life out of him.

Hibiki knew this wasn't good and called out to the only thing that could help him out, along with getting the pod at the same time," hey, you annoying girl, let's combine now," he called out to Dita.

"Okay Mr. Alien, let's combine," she said happily as she flew in and combine with him to make Vandread Dita. The light of the combination destroyed most of the enemies, except the Grand Gundam, and let it get the pod, which they took in its hand.

"Now, let's go help our friends," Hibiki said as he got a nod from the bubbly redhead. They were about to charge in, but they saw the Grand Gundam charge up shots from the other three cannons and shoot it at the Vandread. They try to get out the way, only to get grazed on the right arm.

They both start to come back to their senses from the initial shock and pain, when Dita notices something on the right arms controls," Mr. Alien, look."

Hibiki looks and see the right arm starting to deteriorate, just like in their dream," are you saying that dream is going to come true?" he asks, only to get no answer from anyone. As they did this, the two ships were under attack.

Marcus gritted his teeth in pain as he looked at the situation," guys, even if that dream we had seemed real, it doesn't mean it will come true, we make our own destinies and one thing is for sure, we'll never let them win, AHH," he said all of this in pain as he felt another squeeze at the end.

"MARCUS, I'M COMING IN," he heard and shakily looked to see it was Barnette charging in.

"BARNETTE, NO, STAY BACK, YOU'LL GET KILLED, AAAHHHH," he then started to feel the Gundam starting to get crushed under the immense pain and pressure.

"I'M NOT GOING TO LOSE A COMRADE," she called out as flew in towards him. When she got close enough, there was a flash of light from her right hand and showed a kanji for the north on the back of a black turtle. When that happened, another flash of light appeared, blinding everyone as to what was going on.

The next thing they knew, they heard an explosion. When they looked, they saw the cannon that held Marcus was destroyed. When they looked to see where Marcus and Barnnette were, they saw a new mech in both of their places. This mech held two large double gatling guns, shoulder guns, head vulcans, and the body of a Gundam with green and white colors. It blasted off towards the spear that held Wing Zero. When it cut off its boosters, it started to flip around like an acrobatic. When it lowered down, it cocked both double gatling guns, and, to the surprise of many, opened up its chest and shoulders to show missile compartments. It then let loose a barrage of bullets and missiles from the gatling guns, chest, shoulder, and even legs that shot off missiles. While all of the fired rounds of ammo went off in many directions that hit the body of the enemy Gundam, most of them hit the spear. When enough damage was done, the spear broke in two and freed the Wing Zero. (If you guys haven't figured it out now, it's Gundam Heavyarms Kai from Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz)

"Sensei, Meia, are you alright?" Hibiki called out as he got out of his stunned state of the new appearance of another Gundam.

"Yeah, were good, now, let's finish this guy off," he said as he rubbed his pained shoulder a bit.

"Right," Meia said as she too felt the ghost of pain on her shoulder as well.

Without any compliance, the new Gundam shot off more rounds at the Grand Gundam, which tried to fire back at it, only to for it to nimbly get out of its fire range and shoot off more rounds. Taking the moment of distraction, Wing Zero and Vandread Dita, who recovered thanks to Marcus's speech, blasted off to get in close range and shoot off their best attacks.

The Grand Gundam noticed this and tried to shoot them down, but it was too easy to evade the fire, seeing as how it had only three cannons that only locked onto the three of them. When the two got close enough, Hibiki cocked back the right hand and charged up the javelin it had in the right part of his back on it, while Taiho got up to its face and cocked the Buster rifle right in front of it.

"DIE," the four of them say as Hibiki plunged the javelin into the section of the stingray Harvester, while Taiho shot a hole right through head and body of the Grand Gundam. Before the explosion occurs, they the three mechs get out of the range of the explosion, with the escape pod safely in the hands of Vandread Dita.

"We got too reckless with that, but I guess it's the results that count sometimes," Meia said as she leaned back into Taiho's chest.

"That reminds me…" Taiho said as he looked towards the new Gundam.

"Hmm?" she then looked where he was looking and opened up communications," Marcus, Barnette, do you copy…"

Marcus groaned and shook his head a bit. He looked around and saw that he was in a cockpit that had a three-sixty degree vision that looked a lot like when Hibiki and Dita combine with each other to make Vandread Dita, but it was mostly white with blue jagged marks here and there. He then suddenly felt the weight on his lap and looked down to see Barnette laying her head on his chest," ooohhh boy," he said as he knew this wouldn't end well.

"Marcus, Barnette, do you copy," he heard from Meia and saw Barnette stir from her unconscious state.

"Huh? What's going on? The last thing I remember is…" she trailed off as she felt the something on the back of her rear and looked back to see Marcus grinning and chucking nervously at her while he scratching the back of his neck," MAARRRCCUUUSS," she yelled out as she turned and raised her fist and punched him across the face.

"Well, at least they're both alive, I guess," Taiho commented as he heard the sounds of bloody murder over the communicator and sweatdropped along with Meia when they saw the Gundam flying around aimlessly because of their fighting,' when will those two get along I wonder,' he thought as he shook his head.

When the Gundam stopped flying around and they settle down, they disengaged the form, along with the other two who combined mechs and quickly made their way to see who was in the escape pod.

Before all of them got to where they put the escape pod to see who was in it, Marcus pulled Barnette back," what, what is it Marcus? If you got something to say, say it…" she was then silenced as he put his finger in her mouth to silence.

After a bit of silence, he breathed in and looked at her with gratitude on his face," thanks for coming in to help me out, I wouldn't be alive if it weren't for what you did and for that, I owe you my life," he said with great care and thanks in his voice.

"Wha-what are you talking about, you're embarrassing me," she said as she tried to wave all he said off. She felt her cheeks start to redden and for good reason, the way he thanked her started to make her feel good for some reason.

"It's the truth, so I think I know how to think another way as well," he said as he paused a bit before quickly pecking her on the cheek and leaving a stunned Barnette in the hall. She quickly shook it off and went back to see who was in the escape pod, but one could not miss the small warm smile on her face.

When everyone got their, they waited for Parfet to get the thing open," okay…done," she said as it opened up with a steam of cold air coming out. When everyone looked, they saw a blue haired girl with a ponytail and a yellow and white jumpsuit," there's a girl inside."

"Is it an alien?" Dita asked hopefully.

"Sorry Dita, she's as human as we are," Parfet answered as she wondered why every new person Dita meets has to be an alien.

"I see," she said in a disappointed voice.

"HEY, HEY, LET ME SEE," Hibiki said from the back of the crowd. He then started to cut through the crowd," Get out of the way, will ya!"

"Is she?" Paiway asked as Duero checked up on her to see if she was alive.

"Her life support system is working perfectly," the docter said as he got the diagnostic on her vitals. At that moment, the girl in the pod opened her eyes to show she had red eyes.

"Hey, she's awake," Dita said happily.

"Who's awake," Hibiki called out as he shoved through both Dita and Jura to see. Unfortunately, he lost his footing and was about to land in the pod, that is, if Marcus wasn't in the way and got pushed into it himself.

"Dammit Hibiki, watch where you're going," Marcus said in an angered tone as he got up and looked down at the blue haired girl, who's hair color seemed to be between that of Meia's and Hibiki's. He saw that she was looking at him in a strange way and was getting a little nervous, so he just threw up his right hand up and said," yo."

A flash of light appeared and showed a weird transparent yellow blob that had small white circled eyes and two lined eyebrows with no mouth," it was you…" she started and then immediately got a happy face," you save my life, oh thank you," she then glomped him in a big hug," oh thank you so much my lord prince," she said happily as she hung off his neck.

"Lord…" Dita started as she got a confused look on her face.

"Prince?" Jura finised the question as she was a bit taken back by her attitude.

Barnette only stood there with her hands balling up into fists," Maaarrrcccusss," she said slowly as she started to approach the Tiger of the West.

Marcus felt a chill go down his spine and shakily looked back to see fire in Barnette's eyes as she somehow got a red battle aura around her," now Barnette, come on, you gotta listen to me, it wasn't my fault she hugged me, come on you gotta listen," he quickly said all of this as he got the girl off his neck and threw his hands up in defense.

"PERVERT," she called out as she pulled out her mallet and started to beat him down.

Taiho only shook his head at this and wondered one thing,' is Marcus somehow related to Ranma…naw,' he thought as he and Meia left the poor black male to his doom.

A/N: And that CH. 14 for ya guyz, sorry it took so long, but I had a major block in my mind, what do you guyz call it, writer's block? Well, whatever, I got it done and will start up on the next chapter tomorrow, I'll hopefully have it done within the week. If you guyz got any questions or wonders, PM me or post it on the reviews, ja ne.

ShadowDragonGX


	15. CHANGES

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Vandread or any of the Gundam series, but I do own my OC's and their Gundams.

CHANGES

A light turned on to show Taiho looking at himself in the mirror. As he looked at himself in the mirror, a thought or two came to his mind,' man, do I need a shave and haircut,' he thought as he rubbed his growing mustache and beard. He opens up the bathroom cabinet and takes out a razor, once has that, he puts the foam on and covers all of his facial hair.

As Taiho starts shaving, Meia finally gets up and walks over to the bathroom, all the while taking off all of her article of clothing. She was so deep in her line of thought of taking a shower that she didn't notice the other occupant in the room.

Right when she took off her white T-shirt, which was lent to her by Taiho ( who also commented on how sexy she looked in it), Taiho himself was about to shave off the last of the foam when he instantly saw his girlfriend take off her shirt and revealed her well endowed chest, who had taken off her bra during her sleep. He stayed their stunned at how beautiful, and not to mention sexy, she looked now with just her upper portion showing with only her blue laced panties on. All this and you get a major slip up with him cutting himself on the cheek," OOWW!"

"Huh?" Meia asked groggily, as she was still dazed from waking up. She looked over to the side and saw a blurry vision in front of her. As her half-lidded eyes started to open up further, her vision started to get clearer. When it cleared she saw Taiho quickly finishing shaving and putting on a bandage right below his right eye," aaahh," she shrieked a bit before she put the shirt back on. When she looked back, she was about to berate him for being in there, but saw he was wincing a bit from the cut. Not one to be a bad lover, she went over to him to see if he was alright," are you alright Taiho?" she asked as she touched the bandage.

He winced a bit as she touched it, but nodded his nonetheless," I'm alright amore, it's just small deep cut, it'll heal on its own," he then put the things he was using to shave himself with back in their places. Once that was done, he looked at his slightly longer black hair," hey honey?"

"Yes, what is it, Taiho?" Meia asked as she was about to brush her teeth.

"You think I should cut my hair back to the way it was or do something else?" he asked as he started to turn his head left and right in front of the mirror, trying to think of possible new hair style to go with.

"Hmm?" she then looked at him intently while brushing her teeth. She took her free hand and turned his head in some angles. Once she got a good look, she spat in the sink and washed her mouth. Once she got done with that, she looked up to him," I think you should keep it like you had it when we met. But with just one small change."

Taiho rose and eyebrow at her at that," and what would that be?"

She then put her hand around the back of his neck and tugged the back bottom of his hair to show what she was going to talk about," just let that part of your hair grow, get a ponytail with it. I think it'll make you look better," she answered as she smiled at him.

He turned from her and looked back at the mirror and tried to imagine himself with that," hmm, I don't know, I might just..."

"¿ello para mí, papi," she spoke in spanish to him in a husky voice, which almost melts him right then as put her arms around his neck and presses her body up against his," por favor?" (Translation: do it for me daddy/baby, please?)

"You know how you make me feel when you talk like that?" he asked in a half annoyed and half aroused voice.

"I know," she replied with triumphant smirk," but you know you love it," she said as she rubbed her nose against his.

"Yeah, yeah, alright, I'll go with the ponytail," he said as he slowly kissed her on the lips. After a half a minute of kissing, he pulled away and started to walk towards the door," I'll wait when your done with showering and then I'll do mine, then we'll go see how the that girl, Misty, is doing," he said as he got a nod from Meia. As soon as the door slid shut, she started to take her clothes off to take a shower and get ready for the day.

While the two were getting ready for the day, Marcus was up bright and early in the Immortal purposes gym, who had made it when he and Nagi first got property over it. He was slugging away at a punching back, doing his best to work up a good sweat.

As he punched the bag, he couldn't help but wonder why all of a sudden bad things kept happening to him whenever he was hugged by another female and Barnette getting pissed all the time and beat his him up for getting in close contact with one,' either she really thinks I'm a total pervert, a guy who she just wants to torture for just seeing her body, or...' his last thought trailed off as he shook his head off at the 'seemingly' ridiculous thought, for all thing she has done and what she has recently shown through the rare times she seen her blush and smile, she couldn't possibly like him...could she?

With one last weak punch, he looked at his right hand a bit and remembered when he and Barnette combine their mechs to make Gundam Heavyarms Kai. The feeling of having her in his arms, the way she felt and the way she smelled, it vaguely registered to him that it was close to feeling to how he felt with Nagi,' but no one can take her place...,' he thought as he put his head up against the punching bag, with the shadow of his forehead shadowing over his eyes. One could almost see a single small tear come down his cheek," no one," he whispered as his eyes seemed glazed over a bit.

After a moment of silence, he pushed off the bag and went to shower room and cleaned himself up. Once done, he was once again donned in his blue and white attire,' now let's go and see how that crazy chick is doing,' he thought to himself as he remembered Misty. When he was about to get to the hangar, he saw both Taiho and Meia waiting for him," hm? Hey guys?"

"What's up marcus?" he greeted as he slapped each other's hand.

"How are you?" Meia said in a calm tone as usual.

"So you guys ready to go see how that girl is doing?" he asked as he got a nod from both of them," then let's go, come on," he said as he went into the hangar. While on the way, Marcus couldn't help but notice something different about Taiho," hey Taiho? What you do to yourself, I can't place it, but there's something different about you?"

"Oh, I got a bit of ponytail, if you haven't noticed," Taiho said like it was nothing.

Marcus looked back and noticed the new little tail he had sticking," nice," he chuckled a bit, only to be slapped from the behind the head," ow," he looked and saw a stern look from Meia," what you do that for?"

"Don't make fun of it, I think it looks good on him," she said as she crossed her arms and closed her eyes in satisfaction.

"Whatever," he muttered before they all continued on.

When they got there, they quickly made their way to the infirmary. The three of them saw that almost everyone of the Vandread cast was there," she's regaining consciousness," they heard the Duero say as they made their way to the front to see her awaken.

As she opened her red eyes, she took a glance at everyone in the room. With or without her knowing, that yellow transparent blob they had seen earlier appeared once again," DID YOU SEE THAT?!" Pyoro exclaimed, but no one paid him no mind and waited for her to speak.

She looked over to her little blob companion and smile reassuringly at it," it's alright Q-chan, I'll be fine," she said as she started to get up, only to cross her arms and start rubbing them," eeh, it's so cold," she a little weakly.

The doctor came over and put a pink cover over her shoulders," that's the effect of the cryo-stasis, you should try and get some rest now," he advised.

She looked over at him and got a big smile on her face," WOW, you're a handsome guy," she exclaimed at him and got him to blush a bit.

"Hey, is it true you're another person from environment where men and women coexist?" Bart asked quickly as he felt he might get another kind person to get advice from, namely women advice, if ever he couldn't understand anything of the opposite sex.

"That's about the silliest question someone has asked me," she then looked a bit snobbish at that moment," what are you, a moron?"

"B-but, I just, uhhh," Bart looked downcast as his plan for more help if ever he wanted to get closer to Jura.

Hibiki snickered at Bart's expense while Marcus came up beside him and patted him on the back," there, there, it's alright," he said as he tried to get the blond in a happier mood.

The girl, Misty, looked a bit flushed when he saw him and turned to the doctor," who's he, what's his name?" she asked with bright smile.

"Hmm?" the doctor looked over at the three other males around Bart as they tried to cheer him up," I'm not sure which one you're talking about, but I know it's not Bart you're talking about..."

"The black male in the white and blue," she pointed out excitedly.

"Oh, you mean Marcus?" he said in a more of a statement than a quiestion.

"Marcus, that's such a manly name," she dreamily said as she looked at him with a meaningful gaze.

"Huh?" Marcus asked as he felt things were about to turn for the worse.

"I always knew I would meet someone, someday, and it would be love at first site," she then put up her pinky up in the air as her yellow blob friend turned into a string, with Pyoro looking intently at it in a weird manner," the red string of fate, you know?"

Everyone looked intently at Marcus as he looked disbelieving at her," no...no, no, no," he said as he waved his arms right in front of him," ain't nothing like that going on around here. Uh-uh, find some other brotha' play with."

Misty just smirked playfully at him," ahh, he's playing hard to get, come on Marc," she then brought her hand up and motioned him to come to her with her index finger," come on over and sit by me and we can get to know each other?" she asked in playful.

Seeing what was going on, Barnette developed a popping vein on her forehead," OH NO," she exclaimed as she got in front of him," he doesn't need to do anything, you need get some rest missy and that's that," she said as she put her hands on her hips and had a look in her eyes saying 'challenge me at you own risk little girl'.

While in the background, Paiway was writing in her notebook," prediction of a love battle, definite Pai-check," she said as she whispered to herself.

Back to the front of the stage, Misty was glaring holes at the busty green haired woman. She then turned to the doctor for answers," hey, that girl over there, is that his girlfriend?" she asked.

Just as the doctor was about ask what she meant, Marcus got right in front of Barnette," ain't no way in hell I'm going out with this chick?!" he exclaimed. He then vaguely noticed it became eerily silent. Wondering why it was, he looked around until he felt a soft and squishy feel he knew he felt before. He squeezed and heard a low growl from beside him. He looked and saw Barnette's bangs were covering her eyes, but that was not what he noticed. He arms seemed to be around somewhere on her torso. He slowly looked down and saw his hand was right up on her left breast. He blinked once, then twice, as he squeezed a couple more times to make sure this even was real. He then looked up and saw Barnette's shadowed eyes were glowing red and her usual red aura was back," ah shit," he meekly to himself as he prepared what was going to happen next.

"Maaarrrrrcccccuuuuuuusssss," Barnette said real slowly. Right at that moment, her 'Out-of-Nowhere' mallet appeared and she swung hard at his body," DIE," she called out as she sent him flying into the wall, leaving a Marcus imprint in the wall. When the aura went down, she was left panting with her face beet red from both anger and embarrassment.

"Uncute tomboy," he said weakly as he slid off the wall.

"Marcus!!" Misty called out as she got ready to come to his aid, but was cut off as hand was put on her shoulder. She looked up and saw the Taiho's smiling face.

"Don't worry, this happens all the time, it's just their way of letting each other know they care for each other," he said loud enough for everyone to hear, except Marcus, who was still a bit dazed.

At hearing this, Barnette yelled out at him," WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN BY THAT, I-I HAVE N-NO SUCH FEELING FO-FOR HIM," thought the stutter and the increasing blush proved otherwise. Though she herself wouldn't admit, she was slowly beginning to feel drawn to the black male, but being as stubborn as her source of growing affection, it's going to take some effort for the two of them to see that what they have for each other.

Misty herself looked with critical eye at the green haired woman's denial," anyhow," Taiho said as he cut her off from any further thought," you should know that you have come aboard a ship that has a sort of different environment than your used to," she her questioning look, he continued," aside from a few of us, Me and Marcus especially, have been raised in a totally different environment. Like for example, our good doctor here," he said as he looked over at Duero," was raised on a planet primarily of men while women like Barnette, who you seem to be looking intensely at," he said as her eyes seemed to harden a bit more at the green haired woman," was raised on a planet full of women. And neither planet have interacted with each other from what I know, and when they did, it was usually in bloody battles of trying to see who was the better sex... in a nutshell," he puased a bit to let the info sink before adding on last thing," but you don't have to worry about that last part, both sides are in sort of a truce on this ship that is in a process of becoming permanently accepted."

Misty sighed as she got thoughtful look on her face, while her yellow friend took the form of a question mark," you know, that is really strange," Pyoro said as he got close to it and made Misty look funny at the little robot.

"Now, go on get some rest, I'm sure that Marcus will come and visit you..." at this, he gets a groan of disagreement from his knocked out body," when he might, but if you behave yourself, we could let you out early so you can chase him," at this point, Barnette was seething from the inside while her exterior showed nothing of her turmoil.

"Really?" she asked in happy hopefulness. He chuckled a bit before he nodded. Seeing this, she quickly set herself back down on the bed to sleep.

While everyone else went to go their seperate ways on the ship, Barnette is stopped by Ezra," would like to have some tea and cake with me Barnette, you look like you need something to talk about," the pregnant woman offered. She was about to protest, but then thought about it, it really sounded good to her now.

Taiho raises an eyebrow at this,' wasn't she supposed to go with Dita, though...' he trailed off as he looked down at his fallen companion,' instead of Hibiki, it's now Marcus, so I guess there's a change of script,' he then shook his head a bit as he knelt down and slung his friend over his shoulder and went to set him up on another bed...away AND out of Misty's sight.

Back with Barnette, she just now took a sip of tea and moved a plate of cake next to herself," the little girl has nerve, I mean she just barges in and starts hanging off the guy," she said with some heat in her voice.

"Yes, I see, but wouldn't be scared and confused if you woke up in a strange and unfamiliar place?" Ezra asked as she tried to help the woman beside her.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean she has to go and start latching onto him like the together or something," she shot back as she ate a piece of the cake. She then sighed bit as tried let out all of the anger she had earlier and tried to sort out why she was so protective of Marcus in the first place," you know, when I first Marcus, he seemed like this really nice guy that I could get along with..."

"And despite how you fight, you still do," Ezra interrupted.

Barnette shot her a bit of a look for cutting her off," he's even protected us from the Harvesters and those 'Mobile Suits'...he even tried to comfort me when I felt my most weakest," she said until her voice was a whisper into the last part.

"Barnette..." Ezra started, only to flinch in pain and start clutching her pregnant belly.

"Huh?" upon seeing her pained look, Barnette got up to what was wrong," Ezra, what's wrong?!"

"Th-the baby," she said weakly as her face stated to get flushed, most likely due to the pain. (I'm going ahead and say, DUH)

"Wait, you m-mean the b-baby is going to..." she let it hang for as Ezra nodded her head in answering the unfinished question," oh great," she simply said with a comically panicked face.

After leaving the infirmary, with a big headache of course, Marcus decide to relax a bit and play some video-games, currently, he was using an old PS3 (which I'm proud I have one, 'I look up to the sky' Thank you) and was playing Ninja Gaiden Sigma (play the game, it's badass). After an hour of playing, he decided to get some work done and left to go to the Nirvana's gym.

Along the way, he wondered just how he got himself in the current mess he is in now,' Hibiki, that's who, that damn jerk pushed me in when it should have been him to be crushed on by Misty, but nooo, this shit had to happen to me,' he then stopped and yelled out," WHY THE HELL IS THIS HAPPENING?!" he asked. He looked around and noticed the strange looks he was getting from the majority of women. After seeing this, he starts to scratch the back of his head nervously with a strained smile,' great, now everyone thinks I'm a total nutjob, way ta Marcus, you just made another mess for yourself,' he sighed as he put his hands in his pockets and continues to walk down the hallway.

As he was about to come to one of the elevator, he saw Barnette guiding Ezra with her arm sling over her shoulders. When he saw this he gasped which made Barnette look in his direction,' oh no, not right now, I need some help,' she frantically looked left and right, but couldn't find anybody else,' no choice,' she thought," Marcus, I need some help here, Ezra's having the baby!" her answer was him rushing towards them and helping Ezra to the elevator.

When they set her down, Marcus went over to the emergency communicator on the elevator," Infirmary, this Marcus, we a have 911, a code red, the eagle has flown the coop, Elvis is about to..."

"WOULD YOU JUST SAY WHAT'S GOING?!" Barnette snapped as she looked ready to clobber him.

"Oh sorry," he then composed himself and spoke calmly, but quickly," we have situation here, Ezra is about to have the baby and we need you guys to be ready, because were about to bring her now."

"Has she already gone into labor," Duero asked as he got ready give out instructions just incase.

Marcus looked back to see her condition. Once he got what he needed, he spoke once again," she seems to be in a lot of pain right now, were trying our best to get her there as fast as possible."

The doctor then got the book he read about baby and how their born and opened it up," Marcus, can you tell what type of condition she's in and what type of pain she is feeling."

Marcus sweatdropped at that moment,' I forgot that the old hag was the one who really helped out in this,' he then looked back and knew one thing,' I guess I'll just have to play along for now.'

As this was happening, Hibiki was standing in the garden below the bridge,' Marcus...Barnette...and sensei, they all seem to have some sort of power now that I haven't even seen before,' he thought as he remembered the crest that appeared on the back of their hands. He knew AND felt they were more than just some tattoo with good designs on them. The weird thing was that the power he felt from felt familiar. These thoughts continued to bug as he also started to hear someone calling out to him in his dreams.

But he was cut off from his thoughts as he heard someone walking towards him. He looked and saw that it was his sensei. Just as he was about to ask what he was doing here, Taiho beat him to the question," what are doing here Hibiki? It's not like you to be wondering around without training or working on your Vandread."

"I've just been wondering...those tattoos or whatever they are on the back of your right hand, including Marcus and Barnettes, what are they?" he come out and asked out the blue.

Surprised by the question, Taiho just rose an eyebrow at him," why do you want to know?"

"It's just been bugging me a whole lot lately, I mean, tattoos don't just come in a slap them selves on the back of your hands...do they?" he asked in a naïve sort of way.

"No, they don't, trust me," Taiho said as he quickly shook his head,' unless you count those fake tattoos you have to wet and put it on your skin,' he then took a breath wondered how he would explain," well, I thought me and Marcus would be the only ones to know this, but it seems that amongst us are potential candidates for these crests, that's what they're called. Anyhow, my crest is the Dragon of the East, Marcus is the Tiger of the West, and Barnette, whom now found out is the Tortoise of the North. Now there is only two more people left, The Phoenix of the South and the Chimera of the Center. Who those two are, I don't know," he then paused a bit to let this info sink in," all five of these crest mark them as the best of the best and are combined to be called The Guardian Spirits. Me, I'm guessing Martial Arts, Marcus, I'm assuming, is Street Fighting, and Barnette is most likely to deal with long range weaponry and swordsmanship from what I can tell. But from aside all of that, I don't know what The Guardian Spirits whole objective is, at least not yet that is..." Taiho then looked up into the sky, as if searching for something," but I'll find out, even if it takes me my whole life and I have a feeling, that will answer my question from the start of this journey."

After a bit of silence, Hibiki had to know what he meant," what would that be sensei?"

"...My purpose," he said simply. He then turned and patted Hibiki on the shoulder as he left, but what neither noticed that his crest activated for a split second and sent small jolt of Ki into Hibiki.

But just as soon as that happened, the lighting around the area went out and the looked like from their positions, that power was beginning get cut from the ship," what the hell is going?!" Hibiki asked in frantic and pissed off manner.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," Taiho said as he lifted up his watch," Meia, do you read me, Meia?" he called through the communicator.

"Yes Taiho, I'm here," she answered as her face came up on the screen of the watch.

"What's going on, what the status of the ship now?" he quickly asked to find out what's going on.

"I'm not sure, but it seems there's some sort of virus affecting the system of the ship and everything is starting to shutdown on us," Meia answered as she checked on the systems in the area herself.

"This isn't good," Taiho said under his breath," Hibiki, let's go and..." he trailed off as he looked back and saw Hibiki being hugged to death by Dita.

"I'm scare Mr. Alien, what's going on?" she asked as she hugged him harder.

"Let...go...you...idiot," Hibiki said as his head started to turn blue and was being crushed to death by a hug.

"Right..."Taiho said as he walked passed them. He vaguely heard Hibiki calling out for his help. He then stopped at mid-step and looked back at them,' wait a minute, if those two are hear at this period of time, then that means...oh no,' he thought as he rushed of to the infirmary.

While all of this was happening, Marcus was cursing for the little item Misty had with her that made all of this happen. He then turned his attention to the communicator on the elevator," Marcus, it seems there's been and accident and all of the motor systems on the ship are completely inoperable. Can you give an description of the patience condition?"

Marcus breathed in and went over to check. He felt her forehead, looked at her face and listened for her breathing. Granted, he wasn't a doctor, he tried to check everything he could for himself to see if anything wrong," she's sweating a lot, looks to be in pain every now and again, and her breathing is becoming shorter at points...at least I think that's her condition," he said as he scratched the back of his head a bit. He barely heard Magno say to the doctor that she was going into labor.

"Now listen up you two, if the system isn't up in time, she'll have to give birth right there," old lady Magno said to them through the communicator.

"Wh-what, in here?!" Barnette said as she keeping Ezra company and helping her through what was going on.

Marcus sighed and wondered how it really came to this for second before he turned his attention back to the situation," will do old lady," he then looked and saw Barnette was panicking a bit and knew he had to settle her down some, so he went over to them and took Ezra's hand and held it for a moment," Ezra, don't worry, me and Barnette are right here and we're going be here by your side the whole time. And if it makes you feel any better, just think that whole ship is behind you all the way," he then let go of her hand and went back to the communicator.

"Marcus," Barnette said simply as she calmed down and looked him in admiring way.

"Thank you Marcus, and you too Barnette, I'm grateful," Ezra said as she herself calmed down.

Before Marcus could ask what to do next, the ship began to shake," as shit, not now," he said as he knew it meant the enemy was here.

From his position, Taiho skidded to a stop from and cursed," dammit, and was close to getting to the infirmary," he cursed again as he turned back and went to the hangar. When he got there, he saw that Meia and the other three were already out.

"Taiho, did you just get here?" Hibiki asked as he just came in the room.

"Yeah, come on, let's get going," he answered as he ran towards his Gundam with Hibiki running towards his Vanguard. Once they got into them, Taiho quickly got on the launch pad," Taiho Lobo, Dark Angel, LAUNCHING!" he called out as he blasted off from the hangar into space.

After that, Hibiki himself got onto the launch pad," Hibiki Tokai, Vanguard, HEADING OUT," he called out as he too blasted off into space. The two quickly make there way to those who already out.

"Sorry were late," Taiho said to Meia, only to get her shaking her head a bit at him.

"We've got to get them away from the Nirvana, 'A' Team, go with attack pattern Delta-4," She commanded to the group.

"'B' Team, make sure stay close and take those who get past us, use defense pattern Sigma-3," Taiho quickly added in," Immortal Purpose, get those weapons systems online now and give us cover fire," he called to the ship.

"Roger," everyone called in confirmation to the leaders.

"Darn it, I really wanted to be there for the baby being born," Jura quickly complained.

"Here they come," Meia said so that everyone got ready.

"Alright..." Hibiki said as he psyched himself up," LET'S GO," he called out as everyone blasted to destroy the enemy and defend the ship.

As Taiho and the rest defend the Nirvana, Marcus and Barnette were doing their best to help Ezra. But it seemed she was getting into more pain," I need guidance for this, I haven't delivered baby before, what should I do?" he quickly asked the doctor.

He waited for few moments until he heard old lady Magno talk," Ezra, can you hear me? Don't push just yet and use shallow breaths to help lessen the pain," Ezra quickly nodded and did so before they felt the ship shake a bit from an attack.

It got even worse and soon, both Ezra and Barnette were thrown to the side of the elevator. Barnette hit the side hard," ow," she then remembered Ezra and got worried," Ezra?!" she then looked and saw that Marcus had got in the way of Ezra being hurt.

"hehehehe," he said as he winced a bit from the hit he got from catching," see, I can helpful sometimes too," he said as he gave a thumbs-up. He then saw that Ezra was in wince a bit herself until she let something out. Marcus looked down and said one thing," aah crap!"

"Marcus, what's wrong?" the doctor asked quickly.

"She's broken her water," he quickly said as he set her head on torso and held her so that she could relax a bit.

As this was happening, everyone on the battlefield was giving what they could to defeat the enemy, it was all going smoothly when out of the blackness of space, three flagships came into the battle. Two of them successfully came in and anchored the Nirvana on the it wings with their spear like attacks. The third was about to destroy the Immortal purpose when Taiho quickly came in and cut the spear attack before it it even got to it," I think not," he exclaimed as he cocked the long rang beam rifle on his back and shot it down.

But back to the immediate problem, Marcus was now trying to keep Ezra calm while Barnette was cursing a bit," man, what I wouldn't give to be out there right now and teaching those damn enemies what I'm made of."

"Right now, that isn't important, Ezra is our main priority now," Marcus snapped at her for being so hotheaded.

"Don't you snap at me you...," she was cut off as Ezra took her hand.

"Please, there's something I'd like for you two to do," she started as she placed Barnette's hand on top of Marcus's," be friendly to each other," she then smiled at the two of them," okay?"

They both looked at her and then to each other, then look down at where they were holding hands and look back at each other. They then turn away their heads and blush. Ezra just giggles a bit at them, but then suddenly cries out in pain.

"Hey old lady, Ezra is in pain again, what we do now?" Marcus asked from his position.

"It's on it's way, which one of you is closest to her legs?" Old lady Magno asked from the communicator.

"I am ma'am," Barnette answered from where she was sitting.

"Then your elected, open up her legs and when the baby's head appears, just gently pull it all they way out," she instructed as Barnetted went over and flipped up the dress so she could spread Ezra's legs further.

"Here," Marcus then took off the top of his shirts," used it as cushion and something to wrap it up in," Marcus said as she gave Barnette took the shirt in thanks.

"Thanks Marcus," she said as she gave a smile to him.

"You're welcome," he said back to her. He then took a bit of a nervous breath, this was the first time for him to do such a thing," you ready Ezra?" he asked as he saw her nod a bit.

"Alright ma'am," Barnette said a bit nervously, as she too was nervous about this," I'm in position."

"Alright Ezra, take a deep breath and push with all of you might, one...two...three, push," Magno counted down as Ezra did as instructed and pushed, as she did, she whimpered in pain and held onto the hand Marcus offered tightly.

"Alright I see the head," Barnette announced as she was ready to hear more instructions.

"This is the point of delivery Barnette, put you hands around the baby's head and pull very gently," Duero instructed.

"You can do this Ezra, everyone on the ship has been wanting to see this baby for quite sometime now, that's why we'll both do all we can to make sure you have a safe delivery," Marcus said as he tried to encourage Ezra, as well as himself mostly.

"What he says is true, we'll do all we can Ezra, so don't give up on us now," she said as she started to gently pull the baby little by little, with each push Ezra gave.

"Barnette...Marcus...Thank you," Ezra said through panting as the two nodded to her with smiles on their faces.

Back to the battle, the flagships now started to pull the ship toward somewhere, most likely to an area where they'll be harvested.

'Not on my watch,' Taiho thought as he flew alongside Meia.

"Target the grappling devices they've hooked on the Nirvana's hull," Meia commanded to her comrades.

"Hibiki, Dita, Jura, you and half of the team go on the port side, the rest of you will follow me and Meia," Taiho said quickly," alright, let's combine NOW," he commanded as he and Meia fuse their mechs to make Wing Zero, while Hibki and Dita make Vandread Dita. They all then split up to take down the flaghships.

In the elevator, once again, The two were still in the middle of delivering the baby," captain, most of the head is showing now," Barnette said as she held onto the head.

"Ezra, don't push anymore, use shallow breathing again," said old lady Magno from the infirmary," Alright Barnette, reach under the baby and support it."

"Okay," she replied as she did so. Ezra then started to breath more shallow and then opted for on last push.

"We're almost there," Magno said to herself mostly than to everyone else. With one last push and cry, Ezra pushed the baby out and let the baby go from her.

Barnette quickly wrapped the baby up in Marcus shirt as she wiped off the water that made it come out of Ezra's womb," she's so beautiful Ezra," Barnette said as she held the baby close to her.

"Yeah, the little girl looks good, I can tell it's going to have a good life," Marcus commented as he went over to her and put his finger out to the baby. When the baby saw it, she latched her little hand on the black male's finger and put her mouth on it suck on it,"hahaha, she's got my finger."

Barnette just looked at him with admiring look in her eyes as she saw how he treated the baby. This look did not pass Ezra's tired gaze and wanted to say something that would make the two think about each other," you know, you two look like you would make real good parents," the effect was immediate as the two looked at each other and turned beet red in the faces.

As things were wrapping up in the elevator, so too was the battle in space. As the team that went with Hibiki took care of the cubes getting in the way of destroying the flagship, Vandread Dita quickly went passed them and cocked the shoulder cannons and shot the flagship down," heh, too easy," Hibiki said in his cocky self.

The same was happening on the other side as Taiho and Meia blast right passed the Cubes and cocked the buster rifle at the flagship," LOCKED ONTO THE TARGET," the two said calmly. The two then press the trigger and blast the Buster Rifles beam and take down the flagship, freeing the Nirvana completely.

"Hey guys," a screen then popped up on everyones screens, showing it to be the aqua haired girl who used to wear the big teddy bear suit," the baby was just born," she happily said to everyone.

"Really?" Jura asked in happy tone.

"hmm, I wonder what it looks like," Hibiki asked as he got a giggle from Dita when he asked.

"Let's hurry up and go see," she suggested with a happy smile.

"Right, let's go and see that baby," Taiho said as both Wing Zero and Vandread Dita disengage and blast off with everyone else to the Nirvana.

While everyone else was going to the hangar quickly, the ones in the elevator were now relaxing. Ezra was now holding the baby withing her arms with a warm smile on her face," my, she's already sound asleep," she said as she looked down at her sleeping baby.

"A mother's touch has that feeling," Marcus said to her as he remembered the time he was when he was but a little kid with his mom.

"Sorry I took so long guys, I'll get you down in a sec," Parfet said to through the communicator of the elevator.

"No rush," Barnette said sarcastically. Just as she said that the elevator railings broke and sent it down in crashing speeds," PARFET, WE WANT TO BE IN ONE PIECE," she called out when all of a sudden, it stopped.

"Pyoro-2," the heard Pyoro voice say from below," I will protect Pyoro-2," the little bot vowed as it lifted the elevator back to a safe level.

"Oooh, just get something from Mcdonalds and a chocolate shake and I'll be back and up again," Marcus said as got down from elevator with the other.

A few moments later, the whole ship saw the message Misty had brought along with her and what was going on with planet earth. Once again, Taiho and Marcus hardly listened, because they knew, it wasn't anything surprising, but to keep the up the act of being surprised, they acted surprised when the major news occurred. After that, everyone we back to what they were doing.

"Ooh, she's so adorable," Barnette said as she looked down at the baby," so, have you chosen a name yet, Ezra?"

"Pyoro-2," Pyoro said happily.

Barnette then bonked the little white bot hard," this little girl will not have such a ridiculous name," she said angrily.

"Grr, this has already been deicded," the white bot said angrily.

As they two argue back and forth, they were cut off as Ezra's soft voice," oh, it's you," she said. The two blink a bit and turn to see Misty standing in the door way, who put her hand up and waved at them," feeling better now?"

"Yes," she answered," I heard about the baby, congratulations," she said with an honest smile.

"Thank you," Ezra said, but then turned her head as she heard the sound of whistling. On the otherside came Hibiki, Taiho, and...

"Marcus," Misty said happily as she rushed towards him," I heard all about what you did, taking control of the situation and keeping a firm head while making sure the baby was born, you know, that's really manly," she said dreamily to him.

"Eheheh, you think so," he said nervously as he took a quick glance at Barnette, and gulped a bit. She still had a smile, albeit forcefully put on, as she hand her hand on Ezra's bed rail's, which were now starting to bending a little from her strained hands.

"I just love guys like that," she exclaimed as she launched herself at him and latched her arms around his neck and deeply kissed. He was now frozen in her grip. When she was done, she looked back at Barnette and licked her lips," I just love hunky men," she said with a satisfied smile.

Marcus was about to tell her off when he felt a rising heat beside him. He looked where Barnette was and saw she was gone, he then shakily turned his head and saw Barnette was right beside him with flaming eyes," Maaarrrrcccuuussss," she said slowly.

"Oh crap," he said as slumped his shoulder and waited for his impending doom.

"YOU PERVERT," she called out as she punched him across the face and started to beat him down.

Off on the side, Taiho and Hibiki just watched the scene with sweat drops going down their heads," I take it back, Marcus must related to Ranma," Taiho said under his breath.

"What was that sensei?" Hibiki asked as he cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing," he then looked back at the scene as Barnette continued to beat down Marcus and chuckled a bit," nothing at all."

**A/N: **CH.15 done, sorry it took so long guys, but I'm back in business. Don't know what to answer right now, so just review or PM me, ja ne.

ShadowDragonGX


	16. REVIVING A DEAD PLANET

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Vandread or any of the Gundam series, but I of course own my OC's and their custom mechs.

REVIVING A DEAD PLANET

It's been three days since the crew of the Nirvana and the Immortal Purpose have been on a no-name barren planet. When they had got there, they had seen the inhabitants of the planet were very ill, every last one of them, which from the look of it, wasn't very many people. Those who died would leave behind a custom made wood doll they made and leave them in a large dome, thinking their souls would be left behind and signifying that they were there. The corpses themselves were taken by the Harvester that made a patrol around that sector.

"Man, I know we've watched this before, but seeing it personally and up close, it really saddens me man," Marcus said as he stood beside Taiho, looking from a cliff down to the dome and settlement the people have beside it.

Taiho nodded, not really wanting to say anything as the stench of death reminded him too much of the deaths of his loved ones. He saw a speck of blond hair and knew only two people who had that color of hair, and the other one was with Hibiki in Vandread Jura,' Bart must be taking this hard seeing as how he found someone to tell his stories to and not have them ridicule him, I can just imagine how he feels about that little girl, Shirley, being terminally ill and just one step away from Death's Door.'

Marcus looked at Taiho and shook his head and put on his hand on his friend's shoulder and shook Taiho a bit, breaking the mixed Mexican and Japanese man from his thoughts," look, me, Barnette, and the others got this, why don't you go back to the Nirvana and help out Meia with things?" Marcus suggested as he gave a sympathized smile on his face.

Taiho just looked at him for a bit, but nodded in thanks," thanks Marcus," he said as he put his hands in his pockets and turned back to the path that led back down to the settlement," I'll see ya later," he said as he kept his back to Marcus and waved goodbye.

"Safe trip, homie," Marcus said back to him. He turned back to look down at the settlement and shook his head," it's really fucked up how our own home planet is doing this," just the thought of it made his shoulder shake in anger. He then quickly turned around and called out," CYCLONE PUNCH," the blue twister like Ki punch darted towards a boulder and drilled right through it,' I'll make them pay for this, with the crest on the back of this hand,' he then looked at the crest the appeared on the back of his right hand and looked at it with determined eyes,' I swear I'll make them pay.'

Marcus then sighed a bit as he want down the same path Taiho went down, back to the settlement. Right when he got there, he noted that Parfet was working on the terraforming the planet into a healthy and livable planet, but wasn't have luck. He also noted that Taiho had already left. Seeing as how his fellow Gundam pilot wasn't there, he went to the hospital the inhabitants had here.

Within Vandread Jura, Hibiki and Jura hear Parfet's progress on the planet," it's no good, I guess we're just going have to terraform this thing from scratch. How's it going over there," she asks from her position on the planet.

"We're inside the planets atmosphere right now," Hibiki answered as he had the shields of the Vandread all over the planet.

"Great, get ready to experiment a little," Parfet said with a happy tone in her voice, though a lot people knew she was just trying to lighten the dark mood down there," hold your position."

"You got it," Hibiki checked out as he looked over to his side at Jura, who was painting her finger nails purple, but didn't seem to have that always cheery look to her. He could tell something was on her mind just from the look on her face.

"You know..." she trailed off a bit.

"Know what?" Hibiki asked as he raised a navy eyebrow at her. He noticed the worried look face of hers again and saw she was staring at the ring on her marriage finger, which Bart had given to her and coincidently put on that exact finger.

She didn't answer for a bit until she shook her head a bit," I'm worried about, you know, Bart. I mean, that little girl he's talking to is really sick and I'm worried about what he might feel after she dies," she said in genuine concern.

Hibiki looked at her with blank stare, but then turned back to typing upon the console of the Vandread. After not replying for few moment, Jura was about to speak more, but Hibiki cut her off," don't worry about him for now, just focus on your work," he said in authoritative tone.

"But..." Jura protested.

"If he feels sad, crappy, or whatever he feels after that little girl's death, it was his choice to hang onto her and feel that way," he then stopped typing and looked at her with a firm stare," just worry about how you are going to help him through it."

"Hey you two," Misty interrupted as she called from the Nirvana to them with pop up screen in the cockpit, with her and Dita in the screen," how's everything going?" she asked in genuine concern.

"We're holding up real good here, we can keep this up for much longer than necessary if need be," Hibiki informed to the normally obnoxious and bubbly girl.

"You sure Mr. Alien, you look a little pale," Dita asked in concern as well.

"I told you for the fifth time today you idiotic girl, I'm fine," Hibiki exclaimed as he was getting annoyed by the red-heads constant worry.

"Okay," Dita said in a sad tone, but then turned back to the most annoying question he hated," so, when are you going to come visit me in my room?" she asked with curiosity. Hibiki only could only rub his temples as he felt a headache coming on while Jura and Misty just shake their heads with smiles on their faces.

Back on the planets surface, Marcus bumped into Gascogne and Barnette on his way to the hospital and waved at them," Wassup Barnette, Gasco," he said as he teased Gascogne a bit and held back a chuckle as he saw her eye twitch a bit.

"Hey," Barnette said in a sadden tone, after seeing so many dolls in that dome where the Harvester take their corpses, she couldn't help but think how sad it felt for the inhabitants of this planet.

"Yo, how's it going Marcus," greeted back to the black male," and how many time do I have to tell you all, it's not Gasco, IT'S GASCOGNE," the mechanic woman snapped as he clenched her right hand in fist in front of her, towards Marcus. The said person just throwing his hands up in defense and chuckling openly now.

Barnette just her head with a small smile, knowing what the black male was up to. He just said that to try to get the mood to lighten up and make them feel better. This was one of the things that she liked about him, not that she was would say it out loud, mind you," hey," she then noticed that her sub-leader wasn't there," where's Taiho, I thought he was with you?" she asked as she looked left and right slowly for the other Gundam pilot.

Marcus shook his head with a sigh," the guy wasn't feeling too good about this place, I think it reminded him something about the past, something bad," he said as the two women looked at each wondering what he meant," it's not my place to say what happened to him back then, but anyway, I told him to go back to the Nirvana and help with whatever Meia needs help with. Besides, I think being near Meia may help him calm down," Marcus said with an understanding. The other two nodded in understanding and left it at that.

The three made there way inside and looked to see patients being treated by Deuro. The doctor was now checking on a middle aged man, who sadly, was nothing but skin and bones from the disease on the planet. They saw the man talking and Deuro smiled and seemed to talk in careful tone, but when the patient wasn't looking, Deuro looked away with furrow of his brow and hardened eyes, signifying that he was really pissed off with what Earth was doing to the people of this planet. They also noted that Paiway was trying her best to keep the children spirits up. They looked with sad smile at this as they make their way further into the building.

When they make it to the area where the most terminally ill people were, they saw Bart talking to the long blond haired girl, telling his 'adventures' to the little girl. As the girl listened, she smiled and giggled at moments at the adventures Bart was telling her.

"It's surprising he would be doing something like that, telling his 'adventures' to someone else," Marcus smirked as he looked from the doorway at the two.

"When someone like him lies that audaciously, I don't even feel like scolding them," Gascogne said with her usual smirk as she leaned on the doorway of the room.

"I feel sorry for her though," Barnette said as Marcus nodded and Gascogne looked at her with a questioned look," that girl," she gestured to the giggling blond girl," I heard she's been in this quarantine ward ever since she was born," she said with a sad look on her face.

"I guess letting her hear a tall tale or two is the least we can do," Gascogne replied as she looked sympathetically at the two.

"Yeah, I hear ya," Marcus added himself as he then turned to leave," come on, we should at least see what we can do to help Parfet with," he said as the two nodded and followed him.

Back on the Nirvana, Taiho was looking over the conditions of the planets surface with Meia. They had been trying various plans on terraforming the planet, but so far, none were really making any breakthroughs. Even though Taiho knew it wouldn't work, with his limited knowledge on the futuristic technology and knowledge on anything else then computers and fighting, he had to at least try. But it seemed that only when Parfet and Duero would come up with the miniature bed that had the Paksis keep the planets atmosphere from affecting a single birth of a baby, would only work.

Taiho, after three hours later of getting another failed plan of terraforming the planet, hit his palms on the table and put his face in his palms. He then felt a hand on his should and looked to see Meia with a stern look on her face," calm down," she said sternly, but he heard the undertone of worry in her voice, so he nodded and took some deep breathes.

"It really frustrating to me, you know," Taiho started as he finally calmed down. Meia sat down beside him and put her hand on the back of his. She then gave comforting squeeze to continue, which he smiled and nodded to," after all the technology we have, the resources, and even the amount of people working on this, we can't help these people. It makes me feel powerless," he said as he hung his head a bit in sadness.

Meia nodded and knew that, just like him, didn't like that kind of feeling. Didn't like it all. So, she went up to him and gave him a hug," we have to accept that there will be situations we can't just help in, this is one of them," she paused a bit to think," but knowing the others, they'll come up with something just in time, I know it," she said with the utmost faith in her friends.

Taiho nodded with a small smile as he held onto her. A moment later, he chuckled and got a confused look from her," you know, your a far cry from the women I first met. Back then, you wouldn't even give the thought of your friends being able to come up with a plan without you. Hell, you wouldn't even think of them as your friends."

She smiled and kissed him slowly on the lips. He responded in kind as he pulled her body closer to his and kissed her back. When she was done, she laid her head on his chest," and I have you to thank for that," she whispered to him with a smile on her face.

After a few minutes of resuming some simulations, Taiho called for a stop," well, we did all we could think of at the moment, but so far, thw only thing I can think of is making a small environment to be terraformed," Taiho said as he gave off a hint to her for the doctor's plan.

"We should relay that idea to the others, just in case Parfet and Gascogne aren't able to totally terraform the planet itself," Meia said as pinched her nose a bit from the headache she felt was coming.

"Yeah, let's tell Hibiki so he can relay that to them," Taiho said as he got and started to leave with Meia not far behind.

As soon as they got the communications room, the two were greeted by Misty and Dita," hey there you two," Misty greeted as Dita just waved them.

"Hey yourself," Taiho said with smile on his face, having felt better since he got on this ship and when Meia got him out of his funk," so how you holding up?" he asked as he knew that from the original storyline, she was very lonely since she was the only one from a society just like Earth.

"Well, I'm feeling pretty good, we should have another match on that game. What was it?" she started to think when she got a bright smile," oh yeah, Halo 3, it's really funny how Marcus sounds when I snipe him on that multiplayer," she said as she remembered the yelps Marcus would make when he got killed by her or someone else. (Did I mention they also had an XBOX 360, well, they do, okay?)

"Leader, I want to ask you something," Dita said to Meia.

"Hmm, what is it, Dita?" Meia asked as she raised a blue eyebrow at her.

"Umm, what do you and Taiho, you know, talk about when your in the same room, alone," she said with a blush as she whispered the last word.

Opening her mouth to talk, Meia close it again as she stopped herself from saying anything she and Taiho did when they were alone," well..." she hesitated to say anything at all now. She then elbowed Taiho and saw him look at her. She gave him a look that meant 'a little help here'.

Raising an eyebrow at knowing what she meant by the look and not knowing what was going on, he nodded his head and coughed to get both of Dita and Misty's attention," well, pleasure aside," he started, not noticing the blush on Meia face, which confused Dita, but made Misty smirk at," what's the condition on Hibiki and Jura?"

"We were about to check on them right now," she then sat down by the console and opened communications with Hibiki and Jura. She saw that they were about to spread the shields again and noted it," this'll be the fifth time they did this."

"Mr. Alien, are you okay," Dita asked as Hibiki came up on the monitor.

"Ha, you've gotta be kidding, this nothing," he said in a cocky voice, though the sweat on his face said otherwise.

"Hibiki, we need you to relay a message to Parfet and the others," Taiho said to his student as he came up the screen.

"What is it sensei?" Hibiki asked as he got ready to memorize what he was going to say.

"Tell them that if all else fails, they should at least try to make a small environment with what little Paksis we can offer, that way, the poison in the atmosphere won't get in and be able to help treat the people in it in any sort manner," Taiho said as he looked at him sternly.

"Got it," Hibiki said as he cut off communications with them.

"Do you really think those two are alright?" Meia asked Taiho as she looked at the monitor that was showing Vandread Jura and the shields it was putting up over the planet.

"What do you mean?" Taiho asked, but of course, he already knew what she meant.

"Although it hasn't been straight through, the two of them have been holding up those shields for quite awhile now," she replied to him as she remembered how long it has been since they arrived on this planet.

"According to the report by Parfet, it depends on their willpower and the condition of the Paksis," Taiho said as he closed his eyes in remembering for the report.

"The Paksis, huh?" she then looked back from Taiho back at Vandread Jura, or more specifically, the planet," what I heard was that this planet had purposefully destroyed the Paksis data, in order to make this current environment. Recently, I have begun to wonder what this substance really is?"

"As well you should, that reactor is in more ways in one alive," seeing the questioned she was giving him, he decided to elaborate," think about it, the time it affected the Dreads and the Vanguards. The were changed by something, I know it has to be the Paksis. Then, when we fought that stingray Harvester and the Grand Gundam, it seemed to be afraid of the red Paksis. Then how all of the Vanguards and Dreads combined to make those mechs in our most dire times of need. I'd say a lot of the contributes to the Paksis helping us out. With all of this, I believe in more than anything that the Paksis is alive, a living sentient being, that is helping us out," he then lifted the arm that had the Paksis fragment in it," and I can feel a sort of Ki coming from the fragment that is stuck in me, and only those living could give off such a feeling."

"Now that you mention it..." Meia trailed off as she felt for the back of her head, as she remembered about the fragment in her head. She could feel something different in that position.

Taiho shook his head, right now wasn't the time to think about the mystery of the Paksis," let's talk about his some other time, right now, we need to get back to thinking up some plans, just in case," he said as he put his hand on her shoulder. She looked up to him for a bit before she nodded, and the two them left the room, leaving the two girls to monitor the conditions on the pilots of Vandread Jura.

Marcus looked up from where he was lifting up some supplies on his shoulder to see Parfet disperse the Paksis they had available in the air of the planet. He couldn't help it but shake his head with frown on his face, he knew it was pointless and wanted to so much help these people get to a safer planet, but the people's body energy and system would not be able to handle the trip, and they just didn't have enough supplies to keep these people in condition as well.

As he set down a box of supplies on the floor outside the building, he saw Barnette working alongside the others, trying her best to help out. Just as she was using a tool to check the systems on piece of equipment, he saw of flash of Nagi pass his mind. He shook his head and looked back at her,' she reminds me of her in way,' he thought as he looked at her more closely,' though she does have more of an ass,' he thought again as she looked at her buns. He had already come to terms with Nagi being gone, but that didn't mean he couldn't be alone forever.

So with that thought, he straightened out his clothes. He may feel like this might be a stupid move, since she has done nothing but whack him around with a mallet seemingly made of Ki, but he could at least read between the lines. All the time he was glomped by Misty, he could see that bit of jealously going through her eyes and the time when he thanked her from the bottom of his heart, he could see the warmth in them when he looked at them.

"Thinking about going for her, huh?" Marcus almost tripped by the sudden appearance of Gascogne, who was leaning up against building with her arms crossed and eyes close, absently chewing on the stick she always had.

"When did you get here?" he asked as he looked back at her.

"When you were checking out Barnette's rump," she replied as he got a blush on that chocolate skinned face of his. She gave a small chuckle when she saw that.

Coughing to get his composure back, he looked at her with a irritated look on his face," so what, it's not like I find her attractive or anything," he said as he tried to cover up what he was about to do. But another chuckle from Gascogne let's him know she wasn't buying it.

"Nice try, I've seen that look before, so don't try and think you can fool me," she said as she got up and walked up to him," just go on and talk to her, it's not like it's going to kill you to talk to her about hooking up with her," she said as she gave him a pat on the back that made him stumble a bit at the strength she was putting behind it.

"Eh, r-right," he said as he blushed a bit. Sure he was thinking about hooking up with her, but having the others see what he was thinking about made it a little bit embarrassing. But nonetheless, despite the embarrassing situation, he wanted to feel that feeling again, of not feeling alone. He also knew that Nagi wouldn't want to hang onto her memory and move on with his life, at least, he hoped that's what she would think now,' I'll live Nagi, I promise you that,' he thought to her spirit and faintly heard giggle from the wind.

Just as he was about to speak to her, she look off to the side and gasps. He blinks and looks to where she was looking and saw that a pregnant woman had collapsed. He stifled a groan from being interrupted from talking to Barnette, it would get a lot of people angry at him if he did. He quickly ran along with her and picked the pregnant up. He looked back at Barnette and saw her looking grateful for helping her out,' well at least that's one point,' he thought, but he mentally shook his head, he had to think of the pregnant woman's condition now, not think about scoring with Barnette. He nodded to Barnette and the two made their way over to the hospital area of the building.

As soon as they opened the door, Barnette yelled out," DOCTOR, WE HAVE A PROBLEM," they then saw Duero come in and see what was going on.

"What's wrong?" he asked from his position as he ran to them.

"We have an emergency patient," she answered to him as he came up to them.

"She collapsed on her way here, we haven't gotten an answer from her since she's collapsed," Marcus explained to the doctor of what happened.

The doctor rolled up his sleeves, getting ready to help this woman in her time of need," take her to the examination table," he ordered them. Marcus nodded and made his way to the examination table and put her down. The doctor then examined her and noted things along the way," she's pregnant and close to giving birth too."

"It doesn't seem to matter who it is, every one of them is sick," Barnette said with a sad look on her face.

"Your right, it's harder to find someone who is not ill," the doctor said as he kept checking the woman," I've been giving a theory at this, if they can avoid contamination at birth, they may be able stop contracting the disease for life."

"Taiho has already suggested to Parfet about making a small environment with what little Paksis we can give them, so we'll let her know about your theory and have her make it now," Marcus said as he tapped Barnette on the shoulder and nodded his head to the exit. She nodded and followed him out the door.

As soon as they got there, they saw that she was trying to fix the launcher that dispersed the Paksis in the air," It's no use, it's just too much to terraform an entire planet," Parfet said as she sighed sadly.

"Then you should go with Taiho's idea and make that small environment for these people," Marcus said as he got her attention," you should make it now, the doctor's come up with a theory and I think it just might work with Taiho's idea."

"Do we have enough Paksis to do it though?" Barnette asked before anyone got ahead of themselves.

"Yeah, since Taiho came up with the idea ahead of time, we've saved some just in case," Parfet said as she smiled a bit, but then it turned into a sad smile," I thought we could at least help these people with their atmosphere, but it seems this is all we can do," she said as she walked away and went to build the machine that would help these people.

As the people down on the planet's surface make the necessary requirements for the woman to give birth to a baby. Taiho was taking a bit break by sparring with Meia. Okay, maybe not a break, but it was at least relieving their stress.

As they gave a flurry of kicks and punches to each other. Taiho couldn't help but think how close to his level she was, if anything everyone who seemed to had a crest on their hands seemed to be of same power and skill. He began to wonder if she would be the next one to be one of the Guardian Spirit members. But which was the question in his mind. The Phoenix of the South or The Chimera of the Center?

Just as he questioned that thought in his mind, he barely dodged a powerful right jab to the face," get your head in the game Taiho," she said to him as she resumed her volley of punches to him.

"Heh, sorry about that, just thinking a bit of something, I'll probably tell ya later," he said to her as he kept dodging her punches. He ducked right under them and went in for a kick, but she merely sidestepped him and went in for her own kick. Taiho made a frog flip to dodge the kick, as soon as it missed, he lunged back with the kicks, but missed as she jumped back. (if your wondering about that frog flip, think how on that game Tekken where Law does that sort of half flip, where he lands on his back and springs back with a double axe kicks)

"When you ready, you'll tell me, right?" Meia asked in a bit of an annoyed tone, knowing that he would only tell her when he felt when the time was right. It really irked her how he still kept some information from her. Information that could beneficially help them get through things faster.

"Yeah, that's right," he said as he kinda liked seeing her angry. It was fun just teasing her like this sometimes. But he shook his head and lowered his stance, signaling that the training was done," come on, those two can't work everything by themselves, let's go look and see if there are any enemies on the radar and then see what we can help up with next," he suggested to her.

"Yeah, let's," she said with a small smile. But just as she was about to turn away, she saw a flash of red and looked up to the window for the garden they were in and and saw a same type of Harvester they saw at Anpathos," what in the...?"

He blinked and looked back and remembered this Harvester, with metal body and large organic open mouth. It was the one that would suck in everything sight," come on, let's get to our mechs and get ready to defend Hibiki and them."

"Right, you contact Hibiki and Jura, while I tell the crew of the Immortal Purpose to get ready for combat," Meia said as she opened up her watch's communicator.

"Okay," he said he opened up a channel to Vandread Jura," Hibiki, Jura, stay where you are and keep the shields up, I don't want to repeat myself," he commanded to the and heard a bit of groan from Hibiki.

Back on the planet's surface, Bart was looking at the little girl, Shirley, with a worried look on his face," Bart," he looked up and saw Barnette, Gascogne, and Marcus standing right by the doorway," the enemy's here, we have to get back to the Nirvana," Banette said. He looked at them with a startled expression and then started to look back and forth between them and Shirley.

"I understand how much you want to stay here with her, but without you, the ship just won't move," Gascogne said to him with a leveled tone in her voice.

"We gotta go now man," Marcus said as he gave his two cents.

He still looked back and forth between them and the girl and whispered," Shirley," as he gazed at the blond girl in front of him.

"Come on Bart," Barnette said as she started to get impatient, but was stopped back Marcus, who put his hand on his shoulder and shook his head. All three of them look at Bart, who was shaking from a hard decision.

The blond man then stood up," Shirley, I'll protect you with my life," he then turned to them with a fierce look in his eyes," let's go," he said to them with firm voice. The three nodded to him and left to get ready for the upcoming battle.

In space, Taiho and Meia, along with those who were still in space, were already launched," Dita," Meia started," until Barnette joins us, I'm leaving you command of the B-team, can you do that?"

"No problem," Dita anwered," Mr. Alien isn't here to help me right now, I'll do my best to cover for him," she said with courage in her voice and eyes.

"Roger that," Meia said with a smirk on her face before she turned back to her front," all units follow my lead, LET'S SHOW THEM WHAT WERE MADE OF," she exclaimed to them and got a roger from everyone.

"Wanna show them what WERE made of Meia?" Taiho asked with a smirk on his face. He got a bit of chuckle from her before they combined to make Wing Zero.

The two then open up the shoulder Gatling guns and shoot down a number of the Cubes that were coming at them. It seemed that this time it was a regular force, but enhanced forms, of Cubes. Four groups were coming in from four sides, but they made Wing Zero split the Buster Rifle and give four quick shots by shoot front to back, then to the sides. The remaining units were quickly taken down when they got close enough for them to use the saber that popped out of Wing Zero's shoulder.

"Everyone, go for the main unit," Taiho said to everyone and got a 'roger' from everyone. Everyone shot down the enemy that got in the way to the main Harvester. But just as they were about to get to it, eight of the Cubes seperated into two groups of four and combined. With the combined form, they started to deflect the shot that were being given to them," let's see you guy block this," Taiho said as he cocked the Buster Rifle and fired a charged beam to them. Their shield held for only second longer before all eight of them were destroyed. But more replaced them and the team had to pulled back, lest they be shot down.

"Come on guys, you can do better than this," Hibiki said from his position on the Vandread. Just as he was about to say more, Jura leaned onto his shoulder," hey, what the hell do you..." he stopped as he saw her fatigued face.

"I guess I'm at my limit," She said as she leaned back onto his shoulder. Hibiki cursed under his breath about this. But was quickly interrupted as the new Cubes started to try and shoot them down. But the two were quickly saved by Dita, who made a hit-and-run tactic to lure the other Cubes away.

"Hibiki, Jura, do you read me?" Hibiki heard BC's voice over the communicator.

"I'd really hate to tell you this, but were started to lose control," Hibiki said quickly, hoping for some back up now. Just as Dita and another Dread were trying to get the Cubes off their case, a Cube Dita shot down pass through the barrier," OH NO," he exclaimed as the Cube fell to the surface and made a giant explosion. Thankfully, it wasn't in the vicinity of the settlement.

"Meia, I made a mistake, we need to separate and cover more of the area," Taiho said as he got nod from Meia. They soon disassemble the Wing Zero and fly off in their own mechs.

Taiho quickly took out his sword and extended it all the way. He then let loose the energy wings on his back and slung the sword over his shoulder. Even though these Cubes were enhanced, they still couldn't keep their sensors straight from seeing the after-images the wings the Dark Angel makes from them. He quickly slices through three of the ones that were shooting Vandread Jura and pulled out his rifle and shot down two more.

He looked back and saw the main unit Harvester was closing in. He then saw it activate its black-hole like mouth and started to suck everything in. Taiho was about to shoot it with everything he had to stop it from sucking in Vandread Jura, when a volley of missiles and gunshots stop him. He looked and saw it was Marcus and Barnette in their Gundam Hearvyarms Kai with Gacogne in her ship close by. He then looked to see the Nirvana in front of Vandread Jura, meaning Bart was in control of the ship now.

"Did we miss he party," Marcus asked in cocky manner.

"Naw, we just got that dip here for the chips, don't even apologize for being late," Taiho said sarcastically, making the two nervously grin at him," just hurry up and cover Hibiki and Jura," he order ed.

"Roger," Barnette said to him.

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Marcus said as he waved him off and cut off communications.

"I'll protect her," everyone heard on their communications.

'Looks like it's time,' Taiho thought as he crossed his arms and waited for the event to happen.

"I'm not going to let those bastards get any closer," Bart said as he narrowed his eyes at the Harvesters in front of him. As the Cubes came in and started to try and shoot the Nirvana down, Bart stood firm, taking in the attacks head one," no matter what happens, I'm not going to budge an inch," he said with fierce determination.

Jura and Hibiki looked at Bart in a new light now. Well, Hibiki was just blinking with a funny face, but Jura was absolutely gushing," oooh, he's being so heroic now," she said with a dreamy look on her face.

"Is it me, or has he changed?" Hibiki asked himself with the same look on his face.

'For all you care, we're nothing at all,' Barth thought as he kept taking in the attacks the cubes were doing to him,' but these people, they're trying to live their lives to the fullest,' he then started to feel the feeling of courage build up within, strengthening his resolve to protect them, and more especially, Shirley,' Shirley, I won't give up. So, so, you can't give up either okay,' he then start chant in his hand about not giving up. His fists balling up into a grip, when he couldn't contain his thought no more," I PROMIS YOU, I WON'T NEVER LET THESE THINGS GET YOU," he exclaimed as the Nirvana went through a change thanks to him. All around the ship, weapon compartments opened up and started to lock onto all the enemy, the cubes and especially the main unit," GET AWAY FROM THIS PLANET," he yelled at them as he fired all the shots a them.

Just as the shots were about to hit Taiho, Marcus, Barnette, and Gascogne, since they were in the way, the beams maneuvered around them and went back to shooting down the enemies.

"Do you see that, that's totally incredible," Jura said as she looked at how Bart took down the enemy.

"Heh, that man proved what it means to be a man," Hibiki said as he chuckled a bit.

"No, he proved what it means to be a warrior that protects what's precious," Taiho said to Hibiki over the communicator," but if you really think that, oh well," Taiho then turned off communications.

Moments later found Taiho and Marcus looking from the side at how Parfet was crying about not being able to help the people better, but they heard the old man thank her from the bottom of his heart about giving a ray of hope and giving a new healthy life for them. The difference in this though was that because of Taiho's earlier idea of a small controlled environment with one bed in it, it now had at least four beds in it, thanks to the saved Paksis fragments Parfet had kept.

"It's a good thing you offered that idea earlier, now instead of one bed for a healthy baby to be born in, they now have at least four of them, just in case there's more than one baby being born," Marcus said as he gave small sad smile to Taiho.

"Yeah, at least we changed something more better than it should have been, but I still feel like I could've done more," Taiho said in a soft voice, but shrugged knowing he couldn't have.

Marcus nodded, understanding what he meant. He then looked over to the building where you entered the hospital area and saw Bart leave with a truly devastated look on his face, held back tears slowly making their way down his face," I'm going to do something, I'll be right back," he said and turned to walk towards Jura.

The said blond now had a solemn look on her face, but then felt someone tap her shoulder. She looked and saw it was Marcus," oh, hi Marcus," she said as she tried to muster up a smile, but Marcus could tell she was forcing it a bit.

"Hey Jura, I think Bart's feeling really down now, I think he just found out that...that little girl Shirley died," Marcus said as he got a bit of a shocked look from Jura. She then got up and went to look for Bart without trying to find out more from Marcus," I guess she likes him more than she thinks," he said as he chuckled a bit, at least something good was coming out of this. He looked up into the sky and wondered what would happen next now.

From the darkness of space, the Master Gundam watched everything that had happened and chuckled darkly," I guess it's about time I issue my challenge to them once again," he said as he started to think on who to fight first. A moment went by before the Master Gundam's green eyes shined and named his first opponent," you had better be ready for my challenge..."

"Hibiki Tokai."

**A/N: ** Well, that's Ch. 16, hope you all liked it. I know I haven't been updating soon enough, but my mind is kind dry right now of ideas. But nonetheless, I'm going to try and get these updated sooner. Now some of you may be disappointed that no major challenges happened, so you could say this was more of a filler than anything. But the next chapter will have a bit of surprise happen, something that many of may just like. Well, that's all for now, PM or review, ja ne.

ShadowDragonGX


	17. HIBIKI'S CHALLENGE

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Vandread or any of the Gundam series. But you already know what I do own now don't you?

HIBIKI'S CHALLENGE  


After the last mission had occurred, a lot of people had to rethink about there abilities. Not so much change, but to improve them, so that something similar to that situation would allow them to truly help those in need of them. The one who took the change the most was Bart, who had shaved his head bald, in memory of the girl, Shirley. The reason for cutting his hair was because of her and that she didn't finish putting the hair on her doll, which was in likeness of him now more than ever, with the doll itself being worn around his neck like a necklace.

When Taiho asked how he was doing two days after the mission, he replied he felt a little bit better than he did before with the words Magno gave him. He also slipped out saying that Jura had stood by his side the whole day yesterday, saying words of encouragement to him. That made Taiho smile as he felt the bonds between the two were now starting to solidify.

Right now though, we find Taiho and Hibiki sparring in the gym of the Immortal Purpose. The Sparring Room that was made by Parfet had a similar way of increasing gravity on the show Taiho liked on one of his many anime series, Dragon Ball Z. Taiho had requested Parfet to make it and she did so, although not without giving a bit of warning and worry to Taiho about going too far with it. Though Taiho didn't expect much from the gravity, he decided to go slow and went up to five times normal gravity, he still felt the sores for at least a weak. The reason for having to build this room was for two reason. One was for the training purposes of course, and secondly, was for when Hibiki had to face the leader of the Harvesters at the end of this journey of theirs, since the kid himself had almost broke Hibiki in two by suddenly increasing the gravity within the area he was in.

Anyways, back to the matter at hand to where we see the two sparring at least three times normal gravity.

Hibiki had said he had wanted to see how the Immortal Purpose looked like on the inside. Although what he said was true, Taiho knew Hibiki was just trying to avoid Dita from asking him to keep his promise. Taiho mentally shook his head, thinking that only prolonging such a promise would only make things worse for him than they should be.

Hibiki though, was also there for a third reason. He needed to let off some steam because he couldn't shake off the feeling that something bad was going to happen. Not just him, but that annoying girl seemed to be involved somehow. Oh he knew he should worry about everyone else, but with the team they had with them, it was hard to do so.

Taiho and Meia had each other's backs so well, it was as if they were telepathically linked to each other. Just remembering the times they would answer the same question at the same time and copy each other's thoughts and moves sometimes would confirm his suspicions sometimes. It sometime gets to the point where it was a bit creepy.

Marcus and Barnette would cover each other, although both would say it wasn't intentional, he suspected it was just something of a like-hate friendship.

Jura, well, she was as experienced as Meia and Barnette.

So, he had the right to feel at least a little worried about the troublesome girl.

So with all this in mind, he needed to let off some steam. What better way then train with someone who was your sensei, right?

Just as Hibiki was about to go for an opening on his midsection, Taiho blocked the attack easily and countered by latching onto the said blocked hand and repeatedly kick him in the face, chest, and stomach. When Taiho got enough hits, he grip Hibiki's head with his free hand and rolled him along with himself on the floor. When both were about to go for another roll, Taiho kick him in the face again, sending him back down on the floor. Taiho then flipped back up onto his feet.

Taiho then looked back down to his student, and saw him holding his face in pain. Shaking his head a bit, he clapped twice to get his attention, if Hibiki could at the moment, and turned off the gravity automatically," alright, I think we've done enough sparring for now."

Hibiki painfully got back up and had a bit of bruise on his nose," what you call a spar now is a plain all-out fight, what happened to the spars we used to have?" Hibiki complained as he rubbed his nose a bit, only to wince in pain a bit.

"Direct some Ki to the injured parts of your body," Taiho commanded calmly. He waited for a minute as Hibiki did as he was told, so that he partially heal and dull the pain on his body. When he was satisfied with the silence that was in the room, he spoke," those spars were to help you get used to fighting. These 'spars'," he quoted to Hibiki," are meant to be all-out, if I didn't fight you without giving some level that was definitely higher than yours, then how are you going to get stronger. The more tougher the opponent, the stronger your urge to become stronger than they are should be," he then gave a smirk to the navy haired man," that's how the life of a martial artist is, to find a true challenge and make that challenge pit it against your everything."

Hibiki thought about it and had to agree. It wouldn't be much of a battle if your opponents were just weak. I mean, sure it would mean you won the fight easily, but where was the fun if your opponent was out in one strike after the fight. If anything, he too would like to fight someone who was stronger than him. That thought brought him to only one man he knew other than his sensei,' Rabat,' he thought scornfully, before he shook his head a bit to clear his thoughts of that guy.

Just as Hibiki was about to speak, they hear Taiho's watch beep, meaning he was getting a call. Taiho could only shake his head slightly,' will the wonders of technology ever cease,' he thought as he looked at the still beeping watch. Taiho then hit the 'send' button to receive the call and soon enough, Meia's face came up on its monitor," hey honey, what's up?" he asked with bright smile.

Getting a small smile on her face, she shook her head a bit to get her good feelings down for the moment and adopted her professional face," I'm informing you that BC has requested yours and Hibiki's assistance to go to the mission up ahead of us."

"I see, we'll be coming over to the Nirvana as quickly as possible. It'd better if we meet there instead in the mission, be sure to pass that onto BC, okay?" Taiho asked as he looked back to see Hibiki already on his way to get changed into some clean clothes.

"Roger," she confirmed to him to," stay safe, Taiho," she said to him in a caring tone before ending the call. Taiho smiled and walked towards the locker room to get his clean clothes back on.

As soon as the two got their clean clothes one, they made their way back onto the Nirvana. As soon as they land, they spot the group that was heading the mission. Taiho looks around for BC and sees her talking to Gascogne you," hey guys," he greets them all.

"Hey," BC greets back.

"How's it going?" Gascogne says with her usual smirk.

"Good to see ya, Taiho," Barnette says as she puts down some suit case of guns.

"Nice to see you, Taiho," Jura said in usual alluring tone.

"Whats up?" Parfet says her two cents.

Looking at all of who was there, he knew that these were the ones to go into the mission, but he had to act the part, so he asked," so are these the only ones coming," he asked with fake curiosity.

"Yes, Parfet, Gascogne, and you will help repair any equipment they want fixed. Barnette, Jura, Hibiki, and Myself will take guarding points around you all," she then turned to him with a knowing smirk," but knowing you, you'll double as bodyguard yourself, even more so with that," she said as she gestured to the unextended sword's hilt just poking behind his right shoulder.

Taiho just shrugged with a smirk of his own on his face," doesn't hurt to be prepared. Besides, even if they disarm me, they'll still have quite a bit of trouble facing off against me in hand-to-hand combat," he said while the others couldn't help but agree with that point.

Jura looks from the conversation to her best friend," hey, what's going on, Barnette? What the hell do you plan to do with an old thing like that?" she asked as she eyed the M-16 rifle that had a grenade launcher added onto it. Taiho also noticed she had brought what he got her for christmas, the mini-gun.

Barnette just grinned at her with a look of anticapication," well, you know, there's a chance we'll get to see some close quarters combat."

"I suggest you don't bring that mini-gun with you on this mission though Barnette," Taiho commented.

"What?! Why?" she asked like a her mom just took her favorite candy away from her.

"Because we'll be walking around a station full of hostiles that could spring up on you at a moments notice. With a big piece of steel like that, you won't get much time to aim and shoot," he saw she was about to protest about that and cut her off before she did," even if you could get an aim in time, there'll be the time you have to wait for it to spin and shoot, leaving time for those who get behind you to stop you before you can even get a shot," Taiho then shook his head and added," besides, I don't think such heavy artillery will be needed on such a mission. Just take what you were originally going to take and leave the mini-gun on this ship, take as an order from you sub-leader, Barnette."

"Bu-bu-but," Barnette pleaded with a sad look on her face before she hung her head and siad," yes sub-leader," she said in resignation, muttering about how unfair he was being.

"Alright people, remember, we should evade any unnecessary conflict," BC informed them. Everyone nodded, but Barnette sighed at being drained out of the fun of fighting.

Out nowhere, a pop up screen appeared beside Gascogne, showing Dita in her Dread," are you going to need a guard ship too?" she asked happily as she brought her Dread close to where they would take off from in space," I'm standing by."

"You're standing by?" Gascogne repeated a little smugly with her ever-present smirk," it looks like you already out there to me," she commented dryly to her.

"It should be fine, it'll be less trouble then leaving them here," BC said as she looked at Hibiki and Dita in particular.

"THAT'S TRUE," Gasco and Pyoro said together.

"Hey, what was that, did you guys say something?" Hibiki asked in suspicion to them.

"Nevermind, let's just go guys," Taiho said as everyone nodded and got on board the extra ship.

As soon as the two ships docked onto the mission, Barnette and Taiho quickly went to the sides of the doors. Barnette got a handgun out while Taiho extended the sword he brought it all the way out and held it out, ready for any sort of attack. Everyone stood behind Taiho, who looked towards Barnette. He heard and saw her take the safety off her handgun and nodded to her, who returned gesture. He then pressed his palm on the switch of the door and opened. The two of them then jumped towards the center in ready, with Taiho crouched down with his sword held at a ready stance while Barnette had hers pointed over his head, ready to give him any long range support at any time.

There, in front of them, were variety of people with makeshift weapons. Some old, some young, different colors, and the looks on their faces varied from wary to lecherous. Behind them seemed to be people resting in makeshift beds. In them were parents with their children, old people who couldn't help themselves and were sick, or some of them just plain out sick.

As the two came down slowly, Barnette called out to the group that seemed to want them ill will," STAY WHERE YOU ARE, IF YOU COME ANY CLOSER, I'LL SHOOT!" she warned them as Taiho just stood by and kept his sword at a ready.

"Well, what a palace," Gascogne said sarcastically as she looked at what the condition the mission was in.

As they made their way to person who ran the mission, they noted that the place was in some real disrepair as circuits seemed to flash with electricity, water pipes leaking out so much water and wasting it and temperature at a all time high that it felt like a sauna if the steam in the air was any indication," wow, this place is indeed in need of some repair work," Parfet said as she looked around.

In the back, Hibiki, Dita, and Pyoro looked around," wow, amazing," Dita said as she was about to take a picture of the place.

Hibiki saw this and stopped her as he forced her to put her camera down," stop it you idiot, jeez!"

"How come?" she asked innocently.

"He's just scared about everything," Pyoro commented to her.

"You don't even know what the hell your talking about, so shut it," Hibiki retorted to the annoying floating bot.

As the group made to a set of stair, the looked up to see the man who BC had contacted to board the ship. A thug by the look of him, since he had mostly black clothes, impressive build, but had a shaved head and his eyebrows seemed to be shaved as well," this way," he said as he gestured with his head towards the back of him as he turned and left, fully expecting the group to follow.

As the group made their way to follow the man, the crowd seemed to take this moment to make wolf calls and insults to them, mostly wolf calls since the group consisted of some lovely woman,' if only they knew what BC was, then I wonder what they would say,' he thought as he mentally snickered as he imagined the troubled expressions on the male faces of this mission.

Looking back, he saw that Hibiki, Dita, and Pyoro stopped in front of a kid. Remembering this, he walked up to them and got in front of the little girl that had a scowl on her face. He remembered how Hibiki had embarrassed himself to this kid, so he opted to save him just this once. He waved of Hibiki and let him know he would handle. Seeing the stubborn look in the little girls eyes, he chuckled as he put his long blade on his shoulder, much like how Ichigo and Inuyasha do with their blades.

"What's up kid?" he said as he tried his best to convey through his eyes that he was a real good guy to the girl. The look on the girls face seemed to soften a bit, but she still had the scowl on it.

"What's it to you?" she snapped back.

Taiho just shook his head with a smile on his face and ruffled her hair with his free hand," no need to be snappy," he then dropped his hand down and gave a soft and genuine smile," were here to help, honest."

The girl tilted her head in wonder," really?" she asked as if she hadn't seen someone as kind as him from before.

Taiho just smile and nodded," well, we gotta go, come on guys," he said as he got up and walked away with the other three," take care kid," he said as he waved back to the little girl.

Back on the Nirvana, Duero and Meia were looking at an analysis of the mission," looks like we don't have to worry, other than the sign of life forms, there's nothing too suspicious on this mission."

"What about their weapons, or defense systems?" Meia asked as she then looked towards the doctor," I want to know who they are and what they're up to?"

"That's something I'd like to know as well," he agreed to her.

"It really doesn't look like much to me," Marcus said as he suddenly came up between them and made them jump back a bit," I'd say these guys are only trying to survive."

"MARCUS-HONEY," Mistly called out as she dove in for a glomp.

"Miss," he commented as he quickly ducked as she flew over him and crashed onto the floor. He quickly got up and dusted himself off.

"Why would you say that Marcus," Meia asked as she ignored what just happened.

"Well," he started as he pointed out some areas where the hulls of the mission had holes," the damage on the mission isn't from the meteorites close by, rather, they seemed to be from a fight from outside. And we know who would be the most likely candidates to try and break in a mission full of people," he said as he hinted towards who.

"The Harvesters," the doctor confirmed as Marcus nodded.

"So, these people must be trying to hide from the Harvesters and trying to survive as they best they can," Meia surmised as she looked at the condition of the mission herself. And from the looks of it, it didn't seem good for them.

"Yeah, well, we could-AAAGHH," Marcus yelped as he got sneaked glomped by Misty and was trying to pry the girl off," GET-OFF-OF-ME," he yelled to the girl, but he didn't seem to be getting to the girl.

Back on the mission, the group finally came to a stop in a dark room. There was a moment of silence before a they were place in some spotlights that blinded them for a bit. Their vision showed that they had been led into a steel cage meant for pit-fights. As they looked around, many people were in the stands and were cheering, cheering for blood it seemed.

"I want to speak to your leader, who's in charge here?" BC asked as she was getting tired of this.

A arrogant laugh made them look up to see a long purple haired woman with a red jumpsuit and a single fluffy scarf around her shoulders, sitting lazily on chair high above them, seemingly making herself feel like she was a queen of some sort," well, we got some rather rambunctious guest here," she drawled to herself than to them," looks like it's gonna be lots of fun, hmhm."

"So, are you the leader of this place?" BC asked to the woman above them.

"I don't know if I would call myself that," she admitted," but so far, there doesn't seemed to be a guy in here who has the guts to go up against me, right Patch?" she asked to the bald thug beside, who was the one who led the group to where they are now.

He turned to her and got a humble look on his face," of course, it's suicide to go up against the likes of you, Miss Liz," there were laughs of agreement at this, these laughs seemingly to taunt the group from the Nirvana.

"So, Patch, who are these strangers?" Liz asked the thug looked back down at them as if they weren't worth her time.

"Well, they're, uh," he didn't seem to know himself at the moment.

"We come from a planet called Mejale," BC informed her.

"Heh, our guest come from behind the great magnetic storm?" Liz asked to herself than to them, again," well, it's no wonder you don't know how to talk," she drawled her insult to them.

"Magnetic storm?" Parfet questioned in wonder.

"Well alright, it looks they know all about us now. It's no shocker they'd tease us a little," Gascogne said as she kept herself ready for anything at the moment.

Taiho was getting fed up and opted to get things done," look, we don't want no trouble here, we just want to resupply our goods, and a get some good rest. In return, we'll help you guys out with the repairs around here and give our technical know-how," But Taiho knew she wouldn't want that, he just want to at least say something at the least.

"Hmhmhm, thanks, but it's not like were in any trouble now," Liz then looked down at the group with a dangerous glint in her eyes," we are short on entertainment though."

"I'm not quite sure I know where you getting at," BC replied to the women before them.

"From the way she's saying it, she wants us to fight for what we want," Taiho commented," 'the weak bow to the strong' is what I'm getting off the way she moves," he added as the purpled haired women chuckled a bit.

"It seems your friend there is quite perceptive," Liz said with a smirk on her face.

"Is that so?" BC narrowed her eyes a bit as she ignored Liz's last words.

"How about six against six?" Liz offered," I'll give you what you want, even if only one of you is victorious," she said smugly to them.

"That's fine by me, I've been training real hard, so who wants some now," Hibiki challenged as he got ready for some action.

"You'd be wasting your time with these weaklings Hibiki, stand down," Taiho said calmly as he had his arms with his sword unextended behind his back, giving him the look of someone you don't want to mess with," besides," he then looked at BC and smirked," I think BC wants to spread her legs a bit and have her own fun for a bit."

"You're right Taiho," BC nodded with a smile on her face," how about we cut to the chase and have a fight between representatives?" she offered to the woman above them. Liz just hmphed to her," and it seems that would make you my opponent?" she said with her own smug smirk.

"That suits me just fine," Liz exclaimed as she stood proudly to the challenge.

"But Miss Liz," Patch wanted to protest, but it fell on deaf ears.

"Anything other than projectiles is fine by me," Liz said as she said her stipulations.

"No need to worry about that," BC said as she brought out a whip.

"What does think she'll be able to do with that," Hibiki asked to no one in particular.

"Oh you'll see," Taiho said as he smirked a bit,' she must be into that sort of stuff,' Taiho thought with a shudder.

"It fits her so well, its scary," Pyoro commented as she shuddered a bit himself.

"It's been quite awhile since BC has brought that old thing out," Gascogne commented herself. Taiho took two steps away from her at that comment.

BC unraveled her whip and snapped it in testing," so friend, tell me, when does the bell ring?" she asked in a mocking fashion. Everyone took that as a hint to leave the arena now, and so they did. And not a moment too soon as Liz started to come down from her high ground by having the part around her chair lower down like an elevator to the arena.

"You know what bugs more than anything else in the whole world?" Liz asked as she slowly came down to the floor.

"Oh, and what would that be?" BC asked with an all knowing smirk. Taiho just shook his head at the man-in-a-woman's body's attitude, she was really confident, that person.

"Someone like," Liz began as she pulled out and flipped out a cylinder, which turned into a saber when she caught it," a smug little expression like yours," she sneered at BC as she pointed the saber at her.

"That's well put, but I'm going to have to put those words back at ya," BC countered back to Liz.

Taiho couldn't resist but say," OH! BURN!"

Liz glared at the chuckling group, but mainly the laughing Taiho, before she turned back to BC," and the first thing to go is that snotty mouth of yours," she said as she sprang into action, intent on giving BC a piece of her mind, not to mention her end of a lightsaber.

Back on the Nirvana, the group made further analysis on the mission," even from looking from the outside, the defense system is riddle with faults," the doctor said.

"It seems that the damage has also given their radar some blind spots too," Meia said as she looked over the condition of their sensors.

"It's as we surmised earlier, these inhabitants didn't choose to live here," Duero said as she looked at the condition of the station himself.

Meia narrowed her eyes as she saw something on the schematics," hey, take a look at that," she said as she pointed to the middle of the middle of the mission.

Marcus choose to speak at this moment, not wanting to be left out of the conversation," it looks like they got in scrap not too long ago," he said as he got used to Misty's weight on his shoulders, who was still clinging onto him like a vice grip,' when will she let go,' he thought as he mentally cried a twin stream of tears down his eyes.

"Than that mean those people in that mission are also fighting for something, doesn't it?" Misty asked the group, as she looked downcast at the plight of these peoples lives now.

They then started to hear a blip," what's going on?" Paiway asks. Marcus looks at the screen and looks at Meia, they both nodded as they rush out the door, with Meia calling for Dread pilots to hurry to their Dreads.

"I could do better," Hibiki commented as he looked at the two fighting in the arena. It had been at least five minutes since the two fought and Hibiki, suffice to say, was bored out of his mind. The Liz women's sword strikes could have easily been evaded and gotten at least a hundred punches in before the end of thirty seconds. BC strikes with her whip, while looking painful, could be used against her. Like let's say the opponents threshold on pain was a lot higher than her, like Taiho, the opponent could have just waited for the right moment and let the whip wrap around the opponent's arm and pull BC in to give her good shot to the face and proceed to beat the shit out of her before she recovered from the fast force of such a punch.

"They're not martial artist like us Hibiki, they haven't had the sort of training we've had," Taiho said as he continued to watch. He then saw it was getting close for a certain part of the fight to occur and looked over his shoulder to the thug named Patch, who was standing a little too close to a certain wall," I'll be right back," Taiho said as he got up and disappeared into the roaring crowd before Hibiki could protest.

Back in the pit fight, Liz quickly threw four throwing knives towards BC, who deflected them with the quick usage of her whip. But one got past her defenses and cut her cheek, drawing out a small line of blood. The group, besides Hibiki, gasped and wondered if she was okay. BC just smirked and showed her face, letting Liz know it didn't bother her one bit.

"Heh, I'll say you're very entertaining, I'll give you that much," Liz said with a confident smirk as she held her beam blade at a ready.

"I'm certainly glad you having fun, shall I show you a few more tricks," BC retorted back to her.

BC's seemingly invincible smug attitude was now really starting to grill Liza's nerves," how DARE YOU!!" she exclaimed as she charged foolishly towards BC.

"Not a smart move," Hibiki observed as he saw BC dodge the overhead strike and make her whip wrap around Liza's ankle like a snake. BC then pulled back pulled back and tripped her.

Patch was just about to press the button for the booby trap in the arena when he felt the hot edge point of steel close to his neck. He looked to his side and saw the black clad male with a sword extended with a beam going from the top of the sword to the guard of it, leaving a good portion of steel cutting edge at the tip of the sword.

"Now, now, let's not interfere in this cat fight," Taiho said as he started to move the cutting edge of the sword to the beam of it towards his neck," shall we?" he asked all to pleasantly.

Patch nodded nervously and knew this guy wasn't bluffing. He watch in dismay as the dark skinned and silver haired woman have Liza at her mercy with a knife to her throat, most likely picked up during her dash towards the woman.

"Well, well, I thought I'd never see that day you'd lose Liz," a familiar voice called out into the arena. Everyone in the room looked at the where the voice came from and the group from the Nirvana knew instantly who it was.

Rabat.

"Rabat?" Liz asked quietly to herself as she blushed a bit. Taiho quirked and eyebrow as he saw her mouth his name. Whatever history those two had with each other must have been real sweet for her to keep her feelings for him for so long, if he remembered how many times they tried to hook up from what he remembered from this episode that gleaned on their past, as much.

Still, he shrugged as he put his sword back to where it was and walked back to his group.

"Mr. Storemaster?" Dita asked a little bit a unclear as to who it was.

"It's that guy," Parfet commented.

"It's been a long time, nice to see you doing something interesting for a change," Rabat said outloud to everyone, but mostly directed to Liz. He then looked over to Taiho and Patch," nice work on stopping Patch kid, at least you made the fight fair," he commented and only got a shrug in return. He looked from the Gundam pilot to Nirvana group and noted Hibiki's fiery glare that was set on him. He seemed amused by it, but also knew he would have to truly tread carefully around the boy, seeing as how he might of really jumped in skill since he last saw him.

Looking longningly at the man, Liz suddenly blushed and looked back and forth between BC, who had gotten up with her, and Rabat. Seeing as how she needed to keep her image, she yelled out at him," HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET IN HERE ANYWAY?!" she asked with anger, but was kind of ruined with the blush still on her face.

Utan growled at the woman's demandings, but stopped as Rabat held his hand out to the female ape," the security is full of undefended areas, sort of like you swordsmanship," he joked as he kept the smirk on his face.

She growled a bit at the comment," how many times do you have to piss me off before your satisfied?"

Rabat would actually looked thoughtful, if it wasn't for the playfulness that was still etched onto his face," good question, I haven't bothered to count before," Liza growled some more and was about to snap at him, but she was interrupted by alarms blaring out in the mission.

"What's that?" Dita asked worriedly.

'Looks like it time for flying rejects of jelly to be here,' Taiho thought as he pulled out his sword and extended it fully, but not bothering to activate the beam since the enemy could absorb such energy.

Outside of the mission, Harvesters launched capsule like missiles at the Mission. When the missiles made contact, the front of the missiles burned and melted the protective layer of metal and release floating green gelatin-like creatures into the mission.

"Ooohhh, they're breaching the hull simultaneously from all different sectors," Parfet informed everyone in a worried tone.

"What's going on now?" BC asked Liz.

"You can just leave them alone," She answered.

"These are refugees who have likely escaped the harvest," Rabat explained to the Nirvana group. They looked a little bit shocked at that news, except Taiho of course," in other words, they're a group of outcasts who have been run off from their worlds. They have wandered aimlessly until they've banded together in this rundown dump of a mission here."

"Just when we manage to forget, they come and bother us again," Patch said with heat in his voice," as if they were playing with us."

"Commander!" BC looked over to Parfet, who looked particularly worriedd," it's almost like they can smell us, they're moving very fast and are heading this way."

"What the safest area in this mission?" Taiho asked as he took on his role as leader, if only one that was second in command to Meia.

"I guess...the central control room would be the best place," Patch answered honestly.

"Alright, take all the civilians there now, make sure the elderly, woman, and children are the first priority to get there. The able body men should help those who are too weak to move that area now," Taiho ordered to the man, who nodded in return and started to organize everyone to leave. Taiho then turned to the Nirvana group.

"Gascogne, Parfet," the two looked at him, waiting to see what he would say," you two help out Patch here and make sure the civilians make it to the central control room as safely as possible," the two nodded in confirmation.

"Barnette, Jura, and BC," he looked to the three women," you three ladies will help me stave off the enemy to make sure the civilians stay safe. Our job is to stall them," he said with a firm voice of order, but also added," but if we have the chance to push them back and defeat them, let's not waste it."

He didn't wait for them to nod in confirmation as he immediately turned to last of the group," Dita and Hibiki, you two will go back to your respective mechs and get out there to get rid us of the Harvesters out there," he then turned to the little floating robot," Pyoro, lead them safely to the hangar so that they can get out there and fight."

"Alright, time for some action," Hibiki said with some excitement in his voice.

"But I'm not sure if there's a safe way to get there," Pyoro said to the short navy haired man, as he showed the layout of the mission to him. What it showed was the enemy was every where on the map.

He flinched away at all the red blips on the skin," ah, no way!"

"You all have what I've just assigned, LET'S GO!" Taiho exclaimed to everyone, who rushed off to do their assignments. BC looked at Taiho's back, who was leading them to where most of them enemy was, she wondered if she should be mad or impressed with how Taiho controlled the situation. Mad for taking control of what should have been her to lead and order about, or impressed at how he took the role so well and ordered those best suited to do their jobs. But she shook her head and upped her pace to keep up with the Gundam pilot.

Outside in space, the Nirvana had already launched their Dreads, with Meia in the lead. Not a second later, Marcus came flying out of the Immortal Purpose in his Angelic Byakko Gundam, in all of its winged glory. Marcus looked to see what enemy they were facing and it was of course the Harvesters, but it seemed the Dark Army soldiers were back.

Marcus turned backed and opened communications with the Immortal Purpose," now, as usual, back up the Nirvana and get some of your own shots in, okay guys?" he asked with a grin.

"WERE GIRLS," they all exclaimed, which made his head ring a bit from the volume.

Meia just shook her head at the black males antics," everyone, divert the enemies toward us. Get them as far away from the mission as you can," she ordered and received a unanimous 'Roger' in return, as they all blasted off towards the enemy.

Back within the mission, Taiho, BC, Barnette, and Jura were getting ready for the enemies entrance. BC held up her the hand held device that showed where the enemy was in the mission," here they come," BC announced to Barnette and Jura, who were the shooters up front. While Taiho and BC were in the back, ready to give some close range back up support, just in case the enemy got too close.

As they waited, Barnette readied her weapon while Jura held a four ring laser in her fist, ready to fire at a moment notice. After a moments silence, the light above the door turned red, signifying it opening. When it did open, out came a legion of floating rejects of green jello. Jura fired her beam ring lasers at them, but the lasers jus bounced off.

"A prism affect?!" BC asked in wonder with scowl on her face.

The gels, unhindered by the lasers, darted towards the group," ahhh, stay away from me!!" Jura cried out. It seemed luck was on her side as three of the gels that were about to get her were dispersed and taken down by the sound of gunfire. The dead gel's liquids splattered onto Jura, who fell back on her butt," oh, yuck, what are they?"

Barnette smirked," if beams don't work, use something solid," she said as she handed Jura a machine rifle," here Jura, this oughta do it," Jura nodded and took the weapon in her hands.

More started to close in on them and Jura took aim with her weapon," eeeehhh, I hate gooey stuff," she cried out as she started to shoot down the gelatins left and right.

Barnette was having her own fun at the moment too," oh yeah, this is how real combat is supposed to be," she said with the biggest grin on her face, that was shaking due to the continuous fire she was making with her rifle.

While those two were shooting the gels down, BC and Taiho were getting in close and personal with them. While BC would use just her whip to keep them back, Taiho was doing something else entirely. He was weaving in and out the groups of gels and cutting them down, but also punching and kicking them out of existence. Now one would think that wouldn't be possible with a normal person, but Taiho had long since become anything but a normal person since he got in this dimension. With the subtle use of Ki, he is coating his fists and leg in them, making it possible to not only smash the gels into pieces, but to lessen the damage he takes in doing so.

Taiho once again winced as he felt the electricity run through him as he punched another,' good thing I'm just treating this as another thing for training,' he thought. It may sound crazy, but training to have your body get used to a certain type of pain will actually help in this kind of universe. (What I mean by this is like examples of Ranm1/2, like the training Ryoga was doing for his Bakusai Tenketsu, he got so used to being pummeled by a boulder, that he got immune to be hit by one)

High above them, Liz and Rabat, along with his little pet companion, were watching the whole thing,' that guy is crazy,' Rabat thought as he watched Taiho once again kick another gels that electrocuted him again, but just shrugged it off and cut another group down with his sword extended, without the beam blade out," so, what do you think? They are rather amusing, wouldn't you say?" he asked Liza, who just looked down a bit.

Back down below, Barnette just ran out of bullets," uh, I'm out of shells," she moaned, not for the umpteenth time did she wonder why Taiho forbid her from taking the mini-gun again. She just shook her head and opened the case she brought along and brought out another, but deadlier machine rifle with railed bullets on it," let's do this," she challenged to them.

"May I borrow this," she heard and looked up to see BC taking out a shotgun from her case, but not just any shotgun, a freakin anti-aircraft shotgun. (well, that's what it looked like to me)

"Oh, commander, are you sure..." she was interrupted as BC immediately shot down a mass of the gels down with great marksmanship from her position.

After taking down about five down in less then a second, she turned back to Barnette," hmm? Did you say something?" BC asked with little thing that Taiho would call a 'Kakashi-impersonation'.

Barnette looked a little sheepish at that," oh nothing, never mind," Barnette said to her in a bit of a shaky voice.

They heard a crash from behind them and saw another group of gels heading towards them," they're attacking from behind as well," she announce to the others. She was about to fire upon them when a stream of fire erupted from the side. She followed the stream of fire and saw it was Liz with a tank on her back, showing that she was using a flame thrower to take down the gels.

"Well, I can't just sit around and let our guest just show off all the time now can I?" Liza quipped to them with a little grin on her face.

BC grinned back and was about to retort, but was cut off by Barnette," Commander!" she said and looked back to see more gels coming at them. Taiho saw they had that side covered and went onto Liz's side and started to help her out, who backed up a bit to join the group.

"Oh brother, like a contest for most socially challenged," Rabat commented as he looked down at them. And without looking back, he shot a gel that was sneaking up behind him," Jeez, guess I can't just hang around and enjoy the show forever," he said jumped down to join them, while ignoring Utan's cries of protest," besides," he began as he looked over to Taiho, who cut down another group of gels," I can't make him let me look bad in front of the ladies, now can I?" he smirked as he started to shoot down some gels.

Outside of the mission, the Dreads were trying to do their best to draw the Harvesters and Dark Army Soldiers away from the mission, but the enemy just wouldn't bite the bait. As Meia tried to get away from a flagship that was trying to gun her down, she called out to Bart," Bart?!" she asked.

"No good, I think I can get them, but the mission would still get damaged! You gotta get them further away!" Bart explained to her.

"You make it sound simple," Meia said with little smirk on her face.

"Well, let's just give them a better bait," Marcus said to them as he detached the DRAGOON units on her wings. They flew around in intricate patterns as they started to shoot down more Dark Army Soldiers that got in his way.

'I'd say were making some good progress,' Taiho thought as he cut down more gels. Even though they were pushed back some, he would've thought they would be getting close to the central control room by now,' must be because of my thoughts on using as pain training, I've been taking down a majority of them myself...though,' he then shed silent tears as he touched his shoulders a bit,' I don't know how much my nerves can take this,' he thought as he silently shed tears of pain.

"How you guys doing?" Taiho called out to them.

"I'm starting to run low on ammo here," Barnette replied to him.

"I'm covered in gooey stuff, what does that tell you," Jura whimpered at the state of her dress. Taiho just shook his head a bit at her.

"I'm down to using my whip," BC confirmed.

"I only got one more tank of gas left," Liza said to him as she continued to fire at the gels.

"I'm running a little low myself," Rabat commented to Taiho while Utan screeched a bit. Taiho got the impression of it saying 'what the hell you looking at me for'.

Taiho took in all the state of his allies and tried to think of what to do next. He nodded as he looked back at them," alright, let's fall back and stand ready at the entrance of the central control room," as he saw, they were about to protest, but he cut them off," we need to make sure we survive. If you guys run out of energy or ammo, or even both, we're doomed, we'll hold out until Hibiki and Dita comeback in their Vandread, now fall back," he said with authority. Not seeing any thing else to do at the moment, they followed his commands and started running back while shooting, flaming, whipping, or cutting the gels down along the way.

Not long after that, the group was in front of the door of the central control room keeping the gels with the the last of their stuff. Barnette was already down to her 9mm beretta pistol, Rabat was using the last of his ammo on his own pistol, Liza was was using the last of the gas in the last tank, and Taiho was down to more than half his Ki.

"We can't hold out much longer, fall back now," Taiho called out to them. When they got in, they saw the refugees scared out their minds, along with Gascogne, Parfet, and Patch.

"What are you all doing here?" Parfet asked worriedly.

"We were forced back," Taiho said as he smashed his fist into the door open/close button, effectively locking the door. That is, until the gels find away around it and open it manually," everyone, get behind me," he ordered.

"What are yo..." Liz was cut off as a blaze of blue aura flamed around Taiho.

Taiho cupped his hands in front of him and gold orb grew within them. He then got into a ready stance for firing his blast," get behind me," he repeated. Everyone did so, for fear of pissing him off and blasting them if they didn't do so.

In the hangar of the Mission, Dita and Hibiki finally made it to their respective machines. The two then got in and blasted off into space," okay, get ready for some action," Hibiki called out as he blasted towards Dita to combine to make Vandread Dita.

As soon as they were done combining, Meia flew by and saw it was somehow different," what's that?" she asked herself. (Don't ask me how different, because I really couldn't tell what it was myself)

Inside Vandread Dita though was different story," waaahh, I've never seen this before," Pyoro said as he flapped his arms and looked around hysterically," what a kinky looking cockpit," it then felt something occur to it as it looked towards the readers," I think I can even smell sexual arou..."

"OH SHUT UP, WOULD YA," Hibiki cut him off as Dita felt a little embarrassed about someone else seeing them in this position. For whatever reasons, she didn't know. In the background, Marcus's laugh could be heard

"Um, Mr. Alien?" she asked him as she looked around the cockpit.

Catching on to her meaning, he had to agree," yeah, there's something different about it."

"Hey, what are you waiting for, BC and they other are in danger," Magno called out to them as she got their attention.

"Wow, that's right," Dita said as she realized what they had to do.

Back in the mission, Taiho kept his Ki ball in his hand ready, Barnett gripped here pistol, and BC let the whip coil down to the floor, three and the rest of them ready when the door would open," it's just a matter of time before they break through," Gascogne said as she cracked her knuckles as she heard the forceful blow of the gels on the otherside of the door.

"Oh, nooo," Jura said pitifully as she gripped the sword in her hand.

Right after she said that, they door quickly opened and the gels charged. But they were stopped as a grid of security lasers blocked their path. They didn't stop though as they kept pushing it, trying to break through its limits. Barnette aimed, BC tighten her grip, Jura trembled a bit with her sword, and Taiho's Ki ball resonated, ready to be fired at a moments notice. After a moment, the gels turned from a green shade, to a bright yellow one," they're changing form," BC commented.

"That's pretty impressive," Rabat said as he had Utan on his back, afraid that she was going to die.

They security lasers tried to hold on, but with one last fizzle of energy, the gels broke through and rushed towards them, but were stopped as a giant blue fist came down and pulverized them. Everyone looked up as Dita's cheerful voice came through," sorry to keep you waiting."

"A Blue...Kachina," Taiho heard from Rabat. If he remembered right from what he learned on a wikipedia site, it was that a Native American people named the Hopi had the same word that meant "Life Bringer", and can be anything that exists in the natural world or cosmos. A Kachina can be anything from an element, to a quality, to a natural phenomenon, to a concept. But Taiho shook his head, now was not the time for fun facts.

"If I ever find out you took your time to make a good entrance, you won't live long enough to regret it," Gascogne said as she gave an almost pissed off smirk at them.

As for the outside, the Dreads started to pull away from the Harvesters and the Dark Army soldiers from the Mission," okay Bart, so how's the target looking now?" Meia asked as she looked back to the enemies behind from her point.

"Alright, let's go," Bart called out as he unleashed a barrage of lasers towards the enemy. As the Harvesters and the Dark Army Soldier were distracted with destroying the Dreads, they got blasted by the laser and started being picked off like fly.

But then a called of," JUNIPO HO DAISHAHEI," cut off a good amount of the laser from taking down a good portion from destroying the rest of the Dark Army Soldiers, as small blurs of what was assumed black mechs took the barrage of lasers for them. (I think that's how it spelled, if not, correct me please)

"Captain, we're getting a strong signal from a distance away from the mission," Ezra said to Magno.

"What is it?" Magno asked worriedly.

"It's..." she started out, but was cut off by Marcus's confirmation.

"Master Gundam," Marcus said with growl befitting his title as the Tiger of the West.

"Hahahahaha, it seems I've made it just in time for me to make my challenge," the dark Gundam said as had his red wings wrapped around him like a cloak.

"What challenge," Taiho asked as he appeared in his Dark Angel Gundam just in time.

"Oh,just a challenge, nothing you need to worry," the wings of the Master Gundam then folded back to his back and he then pointed towards Vandread Dita, surprising most of them, thinking he would fight either Taiho or Marcus since they had Gundams," and I challenge you, Hibiki Tokai," the clawed finger then glowed red and, without warning, shot red streamed blast towards Vandread Dita that split the two into their respective machines.

"AHHH," Dita and Hibiki called out in pain. Before Hibiki knew it, he had his head in Master Gundam's hand, being blasted off towards another part of the battlefeild.

"Mr. Alien," Dita called out worriedly as she blasted off in chase.

"Come on, we can't let him take Master Gundam alone," Taiho called out to everyone, as he got ready to follow as well. Everyone was about to give chase when a cackle sounding laugh was heard stopped them and were cut off as a volley of spears blasted between them and Dita's retreating chasing form.

Marcus looked to who interrupted them and saw the white winged glory of another of the Four Heavenly Kings," Raven Gundam," Marcus announced to them, letting them know what they enemy was called. Its large white wings with metal feathers that were red and yellow in color. Its talons yellow in color as well, looking ready to skewer it's a opponent's body at a moments notice. Its head pointed long in the depiction of a beak, but it's face at the base of the neck, making the head appearing to be too large for its body.

The cackle of the Gundam was still heard as the Raven Gundam flew in between them," I don't think I'll let you guys interfere with Master Gundam's fight, besides," it then changed modes and turned into it fighter mode," I think I'll just finish all of you off now," it said in two toned voice close to that of Michelo Chariot. (I'm not going to describe the fighter mode, if you want to see it, check to see for youselves if you've forgotten what it looks like on Taiho muttered as Dark Army Soldier started to come behind them," Everyone scramble, take down the enemy," he called out to the Dreads.

"ROGER," they called out together as everyone charged in to fight.

As they Taiho and the others were fighting the Raven Gundam and the rest of the Dark Army Soldiers, Hibiki was still in the hands of the Master Gundam," let...GO," he called out as he kicked the dark Gundam in the face, and springed off of it to get some distance away from it.

"Heheheh, now, let us see how well versed in the arts you are, Hibiki Tokai," Master Gundam said as it got into ready stance.

Hibik growled at it as he got into his own stance," you'll see how when I've got my sword in your gut," he said menacingly.

Master chuckled a bit before he said," ready?"

"READY," Hibiki as he got what he asked for.

"**GO**," they both called out as they charge each other and met each other in a flurry of punches and kicks.

From a distance, Taiho and the othera could see the flashes of light they were fighting from,' I guess this is your test to see if your worthy of being a student of the School of the Undeafeted of the East, Hibiki,' Taiho thought as he punched and crashed through a Dark Army Soldiers head, he then proceeded to give a barrage of kicks to another one so fast, that one would think he was doing the Katchu Tenshin Amiguriken with his feet. As he finished, he quickly slashed through the Soldier and blasted off before it exploded.

Back with the fight with Hibiki, the navy haired young man was finding it difficult to fight his opponent. His skills in the art were to say, that of a true master. Not only that, the mech seemed to be better equiped, it was over all faster, stronger, and the endurance to take a powered punch from Vandread Dita.

Hibiki looked back at Master Gundam, and knew if the Gundam had a facial description, it would have a mocking facing, showing it was truly superior to him. That pissed Hibiki off as he flared his Ki around him a blaze yellow. The Master Gundam, seeing this as a bit of a challenge, summoned his own battle aura. Once Master Gundam's aura met Hibiki's, which was in the color of purple, they started to clash each other and tried to push each other back.

As the two battle each others auras, Master Gundam's Ki was getting close to Hibiki, so Hibiki opted to push harder," HHHAAAAAAHHHHH," he called out as he pushed it back and made it stay in the middle of them. It stayed like that until it intertwined above them and made a pillar yellow and purple pillar of Ki for all to see.

Everyone away from the battle could see this now. Taiho, Marcus, Barnette, and Meia knew exactly who's energy was mixing into that pillar of light.

"Do you feel that?" Barnette asked Meia in awe.

"Yeah," she was a bit amazed by the power, it seemed Taiho's training in that gravity roomed really did pay off,' if he has that much power, then how much more power does Taiho have,' just thinking that made Meia shiver a bit.

"Hey, Meia?" Barnette asked with a smirk on her face.

"What, were in the middle of battle," she asked as she got annoyed at being distracted.

"How about we show them real piloting, huh?" Barnette asked to her as her smirk turned a bit feral.

"You know," Meia started as she got her own smirk," that's not a bad idea," she said as she blasted off in speeds that would have been that same as Vandread Meia, with Barnette far behind, mowing down enemies in flash.

"Heh, what do ya know, that guy really has come far, I think I should start training in that training room of yours myself," Marcus commented as he sent a barrage Burning Punches towards a group of Soldier, blowing them out space as he did.

"I'd welcome it man, but you know, it's just like Hibiki to try and show off a bit," Taiho said as he chuckled bit. He was now fighting the Raven Gundam, and the two seemed to be evenly match.

"So if we can feel his energy here, don't you think it's time we stepped it up a notch or two ourselves?" Marcus said with a cocky smile on his face. As he did, he activated his SEED mode and the ZERO system.

"I don't know, I was having fun just playing around with the Raven Gundam as I have been now," Taiho said as he angered to bird like Gundam as they both were matching each other kick for kick.

"STOP IGNORING ME," it said in a fit of rage.

"Let's do it," Marcus exclaimed as he targeted as many Dark Army soldiers.

"Heh, right," Taiho said as he pulled out his sword and extended all the way as he too activated his SEED mode and ZERO system. In a flash, they were gone. A moment later, there were explosions being made all over the battle field, before Taiho returned to fight the Raven Gundam with a downward sword strike it evaded.

On the Nirvana, BC, who had gotten back since Taiho got into the battle, watched with wide eyes at the skill that five were fighting," wow," she heard Ezra say.

"The boy always seems to bring out the best in them," Magno said with a grin on her face.

Back with Hibiki's fight, the two of them kept fighting each others auras, but it seemed Master Gundam aura was pushing him further from his position.

"Hibiki can't keep this up, if he goes any further, the pressure will crush him at this rate," Duero said from his spot on the bridge.

Just as it seemed the Vanguard couldn't take it anymore, Master Gundam's aura stopped, making Hibiki almost flip himself over in space.

"I don't get it, why would it stop if it was going to win from just that aura," said the black woman on the bridge. (Could someone tell all the names of the bridge bunnies of the Nirvana, because I just can't remember them and they don't say their names much? Thank you)

The Master Gundam then got back into a ready stance.

"Looks like it's asking for a hand to hand fight," Magno commented.

"And knowing that boy, it's an offer he can't refuse," BC said as she thought it was a bad idea, considering it was a like a grown man beating down a small kid's ass so far.

Hibiki though didn't really care at the moment," if that's what you want..." he trailed off as he charged in with a battle cry, speeding himself up with the added usage of Ki. Once he was a good distance, he used a burst of Ki to suddenly appear right in front of the dark Gundam,' let this work,' he thought in hope as he gather up Ki into the Vanguard right hand and sent a right hook towards the Master Gundam's face.

The Gundam scoffed before it was hit right in the face. It held there as it looked like the face itself would cave into the punch. Everyone on the bridge who saw this were shocked that the punch actually got through.

As soon as the punch grazed off, the Master Gundam flew off and spun towards a meteor. Hibiki got up from his position and looked in awe of his fist," whoa, I didn't think that would actually work," he said out loud to himself, he then looked up and saw the Gundam hit itself into a meteor. After a while, it didn't move, but that made Hibiki mad," I know your still alive, so you can quit playing me like a stupid kid! If this is some kind of game, I'm sure as hell bored!"

The Gundam chest rumbled a bit as the sound of chuckle came from it. It freed itself from the imprint it made on the meteor, making rocks come flying out as it did so. From the side of its face, a small trail of purple liquid trail down from where here punch, a puncture Hibiki had made into its face. It wiped it off before it immediately healed in that area," it was just a way testing your strength, young man. A way of testing how much of your soul you put into your fists."

"How much I put my soul into my fists?" Hibiki asked in an unsure tone.

"I'm sure you have seen it yourself, in those two men, Taiho and Marcus," the Gundam felt the unsureness from the Vanguard and opted to explain," every martial artist and fighter has a way of communicating with each other, that communication is done with their fists, which is filled with theirs souls, telling them how they feel at that moment."

"The Soul of the Martial Artist," Hibiki heard from Taiho over his communicator. Hibiki then saw his face pop up on a screen beside him," it is that thing that tells us if we are sad, happy, or angered, or tells us the truth of the matter when one fights another, it is a way of how a fighter will tell what that fight means to them at that moment," as he talked, he blocked a Silver Kick from Raven Gundam with his sword and cut it in two, before he charged back in to the fight.

"And you, still have a lot to learn young Tokai," the Master gundam said as it got back into a ready stance," now that I know that, do you care to guess what my next action is?" it asked in challenge.

Hibiki, after learning what he just did, scowled at the Gundam," I'LL TAKE A STAB!"

Right then, they toward blasted off towards each other. As the two got closer, the Master Gundam suddenly vanished. Hibiki stopped and looked around for it before he felt something touch the should of his Vanguard, which made him turn to see the Master Gundam move his left hand in a circular patern with twelve flaming kanjis appearing in front of it,' that move,' Hibiki thought as he remembered what Taiho did when he did the same motion. But he got surprised as the twelve kanjis got drawn into the middle and formed a ball of energy. The next thing Hibiki knew, he was being pummeled by smaller mechs of the Master Gundam.

'What is this? Something's wrong,' Hibiki thought as the smaller mechs kept coming out of the ball purple energy and exploding into the Vanguard armor,' I can't feel any of it,' he thought as they continued to hit him. (If your wondering why he would feel any blows from his Vanguard, well, it just seems to me he'd got a similar cockpit from G Gundam and Evangelion.)

The Master Gundam then took the energy ball and shaped it into a energy cloth. It then shot it towards the Vanguard quickly wrapped it around the smaller mech. As soon it was done encasing the smaller mech, he tightened. If it had a face, it would have risen an eyebrow at how it didn't seem to affect Hibiki. So he pulled in the Vanguard and had it face to face with himself.

"Now who's playing games?" the dark Gundam asked as it looked into the green eyes of the Vanguard, which just happened to be staring straight into Hibiki's eyes.

"I just realized..." Hibiki muttered out loud.

"Huh?" the Master Gundam asked as it cocked its head to the side.

"I just realized, I don't know what I'm truly fighting for," Hibiki said out louder.

"You insolent fool!" the Master Gundam sent a hard punch with it free hand towards the Vanguard's face and smashed in, making liquid fly out from the face, in doing so, made Hibiki spit out blood from his own face. But that wasn't the end of it as he got a barrage of punches from the dark Gundam. It then stopped as it growled a bit," speak, have I beaten some sense into you yet, your supposed to be a fighter!"

"The reason I fought was to...no, that wasn't it," Hibiki muttered as he truly didn't know what he fought for anymore.

Getting angered by the lack of attention of the fight, the Master Gundam took hold of the energy binding he had on Hibiki and starting spinning and then unleashed the Vanguard flying into the air. Without warning, it appeared right in front of the Vanguard and started to send another barrage of punches.

As they punches hit the Vanguard, Hibiki felt nothing and continued his thoughts,' were my fights really my only way of proving my existence, if so, why? Who was I trying to show my existence to,' he then had flashes of Taraak, of when he nothing, a no one,' did I really want to amount to someone to them, but,' he then turned his thoughts to the Nirvana and his sensei, along with his friend, Taiho and Marcus,' they have accepted my existence, so why am I still fighting?'

'Quit jabbering,' a voice familiar to Hibiki.

'Gramps!' he exclaimed in his thoughts.

'You know why you've been fighting, you've just been too stubborn and thick headed to see it my boy,' the voice of his grandpa said to him in his thoughts.

'I know, what is it, tell me?!' he pleaded to the voice.

'It was the first thing you saw when the Nirvana came together, the one person you come to grow to love more than anything,' he then gasped as it all came together for him, the image of redhead, with a nice, but bubbly personality.

'_Would lay off you stupid girl!_'

'_But Mr. Alien._'

'_What?!_'

'_I made this for you._'

'_...thanks._'

'You have come to a responsibility where not only own life is danger, but for that of the one you love. And even though I am not really your gramps, you must make you own words and decisions that will affect both of your futures,' the voice then vanished from his thoughts, as if it was never there in the first place.

In the Nirvana, the glow of the Paksis died down, as if tired for some reason.

'Right,' Hibiki thought to himself and then saw a punch that was going to end the fight between him and the Master Gundam. He held up his hands to block when a blue blur came in between them.

The fist of the Master Gundam smashed into it, showing it to be Dita's blue Vanguard," huh?" he then saw in that Dita had hit her head with blood trickling down her forehead," but that's..." he Hibiki said with wide eyes before a switch flipped off in his head," RAAAAAHHHHH," he said as yellow Ki swirled around him, completely encasing the Vanguard into a bright cocoon. While doing so, a crest appeared on his right hand.

Taiho, Barnette, and Marcus's crests glowed in unison with Hibiki's,' the fourth member has been chosen,' Taiho thought as he looked traced the energy back to Hibiki,' not much of a surprised there,' he thought as he set up for the final blow to the fight with the Raven Gundam," it's time I end this," he held his sword at a ready," here I go, BURNING SLASH TYPHOON," he called out as he spun himself so fast, he became a tornado himself.

"No you don't," the Raven Gundam exclaimed as it was in its bird mode and sent a barrage of metal feathers towards Taiho.

But the spears did not pierce through the tornado and only bounced off of it as Taiho quickly closed in on the bird Gundam," DIE," Taiho called out as he hit the white Gundam.

"AAAAHHHHH," it screamed out in pain as the blade tornado continued to cut through its body. It ended as Taiho cut right through and sliced it in two. Taiho then came out of the tornado and was already sheathing his sword back in. When it was all way back in, the pieces exploded in glory of flames, shadowing the front of the Dark Angel Gundam, its eyes glowing in victory.

"Show off," Marcus grumbled out loud.

Back with the other fight, the bright cocoon Hibiki in pulsed a bit. The Master Gundam had stayed where it was, waiting for his opponent to come out. It was really curious as to what was happening to the boy and his Vanguard at the moment, so he waited. He didn't have to wait long as the cocoon pulsed more and more before its light was so bright, it could have compared to the sun. When the light died down, it peered back into the light to see a larger figure in it.

What it saw couldn't have been possible," what?! Shining Gundam?!" it exlcaimed as it saw the form of the former Gundam of Domon Kashu. Though there was a bit of a difference. One notable thing was that it looked like when it went Super Mode, but it lacked the gold color, only yellow, but it still held the green eyes. Then under the shoulder pads had several sticks sticking out from them. And on the back and middle of the head has a spear like ponytail on it. (The last two differences are from the Dragon Gundam)

But it didn't stop there, inside Hibiki was in his new cockpit. Like Taiho and Marcus, it was the same type of cockpit that was from G Gundam. He was breathing in and out hard as the glow of his crest died down to show a kanji saying 'Center', with a Chimera ready to pounce and chew out its enemy, prowling around it.

The new Gundam's shoulder pads sprang out a bit showing a grey metal that turned gold. The back of what fins it had at the back raised up, the feet that had its own turned down, and the side of the fore legs opened up to show gold rockets. All of these then started to exude more of Hibiki's yellow Ki aura.

During this Dita had come around and saw the new Gundam," what is that?" she asked in worry for Hibiki.

"Master Gundam, mark my words well," Hibiki called out to it," I will never forgive you! You have hurt the one I've come to cherish, and have killed many lives for the selfish ambitions of the Harvesters," Hibiki exclaimed as the images of Dita being hurt and the lives of many who were lost to the Harvest," YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGIVEN!!"

The face of the new Gundam opened up to showa a flat pale yellow surface under that, with the gold appendages on the head standing up on end when it did so. The green jewel in the middle of the chest then shined before he drew his new laser sword. He slashed up and got into a low stance, he then punched left and did two round house kick to the right before he punched forward. He then settle back into a ready stance, having effectively tested out his new partner.

"What is that?" Meia asked as she looked at the shining mech everyone was seeing.

"That is it first mode to become the true Super mode," Taiho said as he gazed down to the fight below them,' looks like I'll have to train Hibiki on controlling his super mode,' Taiho thought as he looked at the Vanguard turned Gundam," with his new mech, it allows him to use his anger and turn that into energy, changing into the form that can give maximum power. It's a lower form of the Super mode that me and Marcus use because it uses emotion to do so, but we use our serene state of minds to go past the maximum and beyond."

Inside the cockpit, Hibiki started to look feral as his hair started to messed up and the white of his eye turned pink with the eye itself being dulled and dilated," this hand up mind glows with an awesome power," he began as his two hands glowed green before he clasped them together with the sword hilt in between them, it then erupted into green beam sword," it's burning grip tells to defeat you! Take this, my love, my anger, and all of my sorrow!!" each time he said the last sentence he slashed down left and right, before he held the green saber up which then erupted into a green pillar of light," SHINING FINGER SWORD," Hibiki then blasted off high and came down to split the Master Gundam in two.

"Hahahaha, good, you've finally found your path to becoming a true martial artist," Master Gundam said before it put its hands together in ready. Right when Hibiki was about cut him in half, the Master Gundam spread its hands apart to show another glowing beam cloth. When the two energy met, a bright light appear between them, blinding everyone to the sight.

When the light died down, it showed the new Gundam looking franticly left and right. For what reason? The Master Gundam was gone," WHERE ARE YOU?! COME BACK AND FIGHT?!" Hibiki called out in rage.

"Oh, don't worry young Tokai, I'll let you live for little while long before I challenge your sensei, until then, hahahahahaha," the Master Gundam's voice echoing out in space, leaving the Hibiki in going deeper into his rage.

"COME BACK AND FIGHT?!" Hibiki demanded as he was about to blast off, but was restrained as Taiho came up from behind and put his arms under his armpits and held him by the shoulders, while Marcus restrained his hands from the front.

"Hibiki, chill out man, Dita is fine. You don't need fight anymore," Marcus said as he tried to calm the raging Hibiki.

"Ride it out Hibiki," Taiho exclaimed to also calm down.

"NO, LET ME GO, I'LL KILL THAT BASTARD," Hibiki called out as he struggle to get free.

Dita watch all this from afar and made a choice. She quickly got her spacesuit on and blasted towards the raging mech. Once she got close enough, she opened up the cockpit and floated herself towards the new Gundam. As she might have suspected, the opening to the cockpit was on the top side, where it was nearest to the head, much like Taiho's and Marcus's Gundams. Taking careful steps in not getting too close to the struggling head, she opened up the cockpit and jumped in and closed it. She turned to another door, where Hibiki must be piloting, she breathed in and opened and saw he was struggling against the hold Taiho and Marcus.

Taiho and Marcus were hoping Dita got through to him, even though they had been keeping him from blasting to who knows where, they had seen what Dita was doing. Now all they had to do was wait while Dita worked her magic.

As Hibiki continued to struggle, he suddenly felt someone in front of him embrace him softly. He knew it wasn't Marcus doing it, considering the soft round globes he was feeling on his chest. In his rageful state, he looked down to see the crying face of Dita, who had a streak of dry blood going down her forehead, her tears washing away the dry blood that were under her eyes. He gasped a bit when he saw her.

"Please, Mr. Alien, calm down, I don't want to see you like this. Please?" she asked as tears came down her eyes, it really hurt her to see the man in front of her in such a state.

That broke the rage haze in his mind as his hair returned to its natural state, his eye going back to its original white and brown. He breathed in and out hard before it calmed down to regular breathing. He shook his head and wondered just what the hell happened. He looked down to the crying form of Dita and immediately remembered what happened to her. He quickly looked her over," what were you thinking getting in front of that attack, it was supposed to be a fight between just me and that asshole," Hibiki scolded her as she still kept hugging him.

"I wanted to help, I was worried for you Mr. Alien, I just couldn't sit still and watch you fight by yourself," she said as she hiccuped a bit in between sobs.

He huffed in anger, but calmed down and hugged her a bit a back," you idiot," he said to her, though it did not hold the scornful or annoyed tone it usually did.

Everyone calmed down as the Taiho and Marcus let go of the raging mech. Taiho motioned for everyone to come and leaved them be. Before he left though, he looked in the direction where Hibiki and the Master Gundam had fought. He wondered why the Master Gundam would point Hibiki in the right directions as a person and as a martial artist, and why it did not destroy Hibiki in his moment of weakness. Even with the new Gundam itself being powered up in a pre-form of Super Mode, the Master Gundam still had enough power to take down Hibiki, so why did it not take the chance.

'There's more to that Gundam, I know it,' he thought to himself. At that moment, Dark Angels eyes flashed in a bit,' you feel so too, don't you Dark Angel?' he thought to it as the eyes flashed again,' we'll have to keep watch for it then,' he thought back as he continued on to the Immortal Purpose.

"WAIT," everyone then turned to Barnette," WHAT ABOUT MY GUNS," everyone space just about facefaulted at that.

'Right, well, I guess we'll be fine from now on I guess,' Taiho thought as he looked back to the new Gundam,' or Shining Vanguard is more like it, yeah, that sounds good,' he thought as he looked back at the newly named Shining Vanguard and wondered what new changes this meant for the future.

**A/N:** Sorry about not updating and being a lazy ass, but here's CH.17, I've just been really out of it guys, but the next thing I'm going to update is Alter Naruto. I may have said I was going to my EvaxNaruto crossover fic, but I've realized I haven't updated Alter Naruto for so long, so I'm going to get back up on that. Now, as for the part where Hibiki hears his gramps, well, I'm sure you figured it was actually the Paksis talking to Hibiki. Why? Well you could go for you own assumption, but I was trying to find a way for Hibiki to just get out of his funk and fight for real purpose that wasn't only for himself. As for the little memory he had, it's just plain out made up, so don't think it was actually apart of the series, it was just something to solidify what Hibiki was thinking about her for the moment. Oh, and if your wondering why it seemed familiar scene, well, think Yu Yu Hakusho in its last moment, I just changed a bunch of things to make the scene fit Vandread. Well, anything else, just PM or review please, ja ne.

ShadowDragonGX


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